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A GROUP WEARING red capes have been spotted in several counties across the country this week, campaigning in public spaces and conducting door-to-door visits to oppose the Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) curriculum.
The group is called the Irish Society for Christian Civilisation (ISFCC), who say they are on an “epic crusade to defend moral values”.
In the past week the group travelled to Kilkenny, Waterford, Cork, Limerick and Dublin to spread their message that the SPHE curriculum includes “extremely sexualised and communistic content”.
Discussing the group online, one Dublin woman said two members of the group knocked on her door to promote “not educating our kids about sex and gender”.
She said the scene “was like something out of a movie”, with two members of the group at every door on her street and others giving free toys to children.
A person in Co Cork said a man from the group approached him but when he asked why there were no women in the religious group, the man crossed to the other side of the street.
The ISFCC is an offshoot of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP), a charity founded in 1960 in Brazil which expanded to the US in the 1980s.
Extremism analyst group the Institute of Strategic Dialogue said the movement is “ultra-conservative” and has strong ties to American Republicanism.
The TFP lists its movement as operating in Ireland, the US, Canada, South Africa and Australia.
Both the TFP and ISFCC wear the same red capes and use the same flags at their campaigns, a red flag emblazoned with a gold lion.
On its website, the ISFCC says it is inspired by the TFP.
It says: “We are on the front lines of the culture war, peacefully defending the values of Tradition, Family and Property.”
Rory O’Hanlon, brother of Father Ted actor Ardal O’Hanlon, is the manager of ISFCC and was the former secretary of the group.
The registered charity has been around since 2004, and does not seem to be short of benefactors.
The company’s most recent financial statement recorded a total income for 2024 as €439,772, which was contributed to by a €75,053 increase in donations.
The organisation has previously received once off donations as large as €198,512, as recorded in its 2021 financial statement.
The group conducts street campaigns, which include music and public rosaries.
It shares videos of its campaigns on YouTube, showing members of the group playing the bagpipes and drums as others hand out leaflets and seek signatures for their petitions.
The group has organised street campaigns during other times of social change in Ireland, including the abortion and marriage equality referendums.
Previous petitions, one of which has only garnered two signatures, aimed for the end of abortion, same-sex marriage, pornography and to stop an ecumenical LGBTQ+ prayer service.
The group’s website indicates it also carries out home visits, where it takes statues of Our Lady of Fatima to homes, schools and nursing homes.
It also said the group hosts 575 public square rosary rallies on May 10 every year to honour Our Lady of Fatima and “pray for the re-conversion of Ireland”.
The ISFCC told The Journal that although most of its supporters are women, they “generally do not participate” in street campaigns.
However, it said the majority of its office volunteers are women, and many of them hold rosary rallies.
The ISFCC has also hosted a controversial ‘chivalry camp’ for boys aged 13-18 which teaches boys about “the best of manliness”.
The camp has been active since 2007 and involves faith classes, treasure hunts, medieval games, swordplay lessons and a banquet.
Boys and their fathers are encouraged to attend the camp. There is no mention of the presence of girls or women.
A recent YouTube video shared by the group shows boys dressed in medieval outfits standing on the side of the road in Clonmel, Co Tipperary during the summer camp.
The boys were protesting against abortion, holding a religious statue and signs instructing passersby to ‘honk for life’.
During the video, one young man said “purity is the answer”, while another said “science is on our side”.
Another boy held a sign which read: “Smile you survived abortion”.
The ISFCC has created a petition to encourage Minister for Education, Helen McEntee to change the SPHE curriculum.
The petition reads: “The SPHE curriculum is riddled with moral depravity and radical leftist ideas. Please join us in protesting this travesty.”
The ISFCC told The Journal, that the current campaigns are “to warn” people about what it claims is “extreme sexual content that is either being proposed for SPHE or is already being taught”.
It claimed “many parents” have pulled their children out of SPHE class or out of school over the matter.
SPHE is a secondary school subject that has regularly been targeted by far-right groups in Ireland, particularly religious and anti-trans groups.
DCU teaches a course for tutors and SPHE coordinators on the syllabus.
Last year, a former SPHE teacher, Mary Creedon, attended the course at DCU and released a YouTube video alleging students will be shown sexually explicit materials or asked to watch pornography as part of the class.
The Department of Education has confirmed students will not be shown explicit or inappropriate content as part of the SPHE curriculum.
With reporting from Eoghan Dalton and Stephen McDermott
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