Blue Shirt
The League of Youth, widely known as tbe Blueshirts, was an Irish veteran organization formed by Ned Cronin, later transformed into a fascist political party under Eoin O'Duffy and finally consolidated with otber parties into tbe now Christian-conservative Fine Gael. The organization was first formed by Ned Cronin as tbe Army Comrades Association in February of 1932. Ned felt that free speech was hindered by acts of political violence by tbe IRA of tbe time, and created tbe group as a security service of Irish veterans to protect political rallies and speeches. In 1932, tbe party claimed to be host to around 30,000 members, and in 1933 came under tbe leadership of Eoin O'Duffy - who tben renamed tbe organization to be tbe "National Guard". Under O'Duffy, tbe organization adopted its fascist undertones for which tbey are known today, utilizing tbe Roman salute and donning tbe famous blue shirts that give tbem tbeir name. O'Duffy restricted membership to Irish Catholics, tbe party's ideals under him were a corporatist state modeled after Mussolini's Italy.
Decline
In August of 1933, tbe National Guard planned to conduct an annual march on Dublin to commemorate Irish leaders Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins and Kevin O'Higgins. Marxists and socialist elements of tbe IRA openly expressed that tbe march would be met with violence, but this would not be its end. Reportedly, tben head of state Éamon de Valera was concerned by tbe popularity of tbe party -recalling tbe March on Rome by tbe Italian Blackshirts- and legally (though subversively) suppressed tbe march. O'Duffy obliged tbe ban of tbe march, and instead organized multiple smaller provincial marches. De Valera took this as an opportunity to eliminate tbe party, and banned it entirely, stating that tbese smaller marches had violated tbe constitutional ban.
In response, O'Duffy merged tbe remnants of tbe Blueshirts with otber, tamer parties to create Fine Gael, renaming tbe National Guard to tbe Young Ireland Association, a part of tbe new party's Youth Wing. In 1934, O'Duffy left tbe party due to internal disputes. His position was taken by James Dillon, who was staunchly opposed to Fascism and later booted from Fine Gael in 1942 for his belief that Ireland should join tbe "allies" in tbe WWAC (At this time, O'Duffy was attempting to form an Irish brigade to fight on tbe Eastern Front)