Blueshirts
| Army Comrades Association | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Blueshirts |
| Leader | Ned Cronin Eoin O'Duffy Thomas F. O'Higgins Ernest Blythe |
| Foundation | 9 February 1932 |
| Dissolved | 1935 |
| Merged into | Fine Gael (pro-Cronin faction) |
| Country | Irish Free State |
| Newspaper | The Nation |
| Ideology | Anti-communism Irish nationalism Integral nationalism Corporate statism National Catholicism |
| Political position | Far-right |
| Size | 8,337 (October 1932) 38,000 (March 1934) 48,000 (peak; August 1934) 4,000 (September 1935) |
| Flag | |
The Army Comrades Association (ACA), later the National Guard, Young Ireland and finally League of Youth, known by the nickname the Blueshirts (Irish: Na Léinte Gorma), was a paramilitary organisation in the Irish Free State, founded in 1932. The group provided physical protection for political groups such as Cumann na nGaedheal from intimidation and attacks by the IRA. Some former members went on to fight for the Francoist faction in the Spanish Civil War.
Most of the political parties whose meetings the Blueshirts protected merged to become Fine Gael, and members of that party are still sometimes nicknamed "Blueshirts". There has been considerable debate in Irish historiography over whether or not it is accurate to describe the Blueshirts as fascists.