Anarchism in Ireland

Leaving aside the related tradition of syndicalism in Ireland, associated with figures like James Connolly, Irish anarchism had little historical tradition before the 1970s. As a movement it only really developed from the late 1990s – although one organisation, the Workers Solidarity Movement has had a continuous existence since 1984. Anarchists have been active in Ireland as far back as 1886, but these were short-lived groups or isolated individuals with large gaps between activity.

The first mention of an Irish connection to anarchism was the Boston-based Irish nationalist W.G.H. Smart, who wrote articles for The Anarchist in 1880 and 1881. In 1886, Michael Gabriel, an English anarchist, arrived in Dublin and moved to Bayview Avenue in the North Strand. He was a member of the Socialist League, an organisation whose members included libertarian Marxist William Morris and anarchist Joseph Lane. A branch of the League was formed and it is known that anarchist publications were among those distributed by them. Around the same time, George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) wrote the article "What's in a name (how an anarchist might put it)" at the request of Charlotte Wilson for issue no. 1 of The Anarchist in 1885. Shaw had been taught French by the Communard Richard Deck, who introduced him to Proudhon. Later he was embarrassed by unauthorised reprints, as he was a Fabian socialist, not an anarchist. Irish writer Oscar Wilde notably expressed anarchist sympathies, especially in his essay The Soul of Man under Socialism

...
Wikipedia