Rally against mass immigration takes place in central Dublin where protestors sing rebel ballad 'A Nation Once Again'

Gardai would not put a size on the demonstration when asked, and whilst RTE initially reported in a TV news bulletin that it involved "hundreds", a report on its website said it involved around 1,000 people.

Though it is extremely hard to gauge crowd numbers accurately, footage posted online from the rally indicates the number was likely significantly higher than that.

Of the 46 stories on the RTE News homepage as of 10pm on Monday, the protest was recorded as a single 'brief' in its regional news section, with no picture, headlined: "Eleven arrests as two protests held in Dublin."

The second protest it refers to was a smaller counter-demonstration against the main rally.

The 205-word RTE report did not quote any of the speakers of either the main rally or the counter-demonstration, or note the messages they carried.

The anti-immigration protest took the form of a march through the city centre.

Placards said "Join the National Party" (a small right-wing party) while banners included ones reading: "House the Irish, not the world!" and "Finglas says no mass immigration".

Chants heard on the march included: "Leo, Leo, Leo, out, out, out," and "Whose streets? Our streets!"

One much-viewed video of the protest was uploaded by a Twitter user called Val (@valerie70154568, 3,800 followers), whose bio reads simply: "#IrelandIsFull".

It has since been retweeted by a far bigger American account called ‘End Wokeness’ with 2.2 million followers.

As a result, her video has now been seen by over 800,000 people, and has been 'liked' over 34,000 times, including by Twitter owner Elon Musk.

The video shows a large crowd by the River Liffey in central Dublin waving Irish tricolours while the 19th century Irish independence song 'A Nation Once Again' plays.

Other flags visible are the 1916 "Irish Republic" flag, one for the Irish Freedom Party (another fringe right-wing party), and flags with green and white stripes and a blue square of stars (which appear to resemble the official flag of the New York Police Department).

After the song a man told the crowd: "It is up to us – true Irish nationalists – to protect our history and way of life from being eroded.

"We as Irish people need to stand tall, stand united, and be steadfast, because in my opinion, a storm's a-comin'."

A video of the counter-demonstration shows Richard Boyd-Barrett of People Before Profit telling a smaller crowd: "Those who claim they are somehow defending our culture, are doing the very opposite.

"They are trampling on the real history of this country, which is about cead mile failte, its about millions of Irish people who emigrated all over the world and they were also targeted with exactly the same toxic stereotypes that the far-right are now directing at immigrants…

"The Irish were protrayed as violent, backwards, people who were deviant, people who were terrorists.

"In some cases they were presented as people who were less than human and animal-like…

"It is absolutely tragic that there are people in this country who now want to do what was wrongly done to us to other people who come ti this country seeking a better life."

Among the flags on display there were one for Antifa, the self-described anti-fascist group which has been involved in extensive rioting in the USA in recent years, and ones for the Industrial Workers of the World, an anarchist-leaning US trade union nicknamed 'the wobblies'.

While An Garda Siochana said 11 arrests had been made, it is not clear if this involved anti-immigration protestors, counter-protestors, or anyone else.