Gardaí are concerned about the emergence of an organised ‘vigilante’ group that has begun staging street patrols and now has members in almost every county. The group, which includes a man who was previously jailed for killing his father and another who has openly incited hatred on ‘foreigners’ on social media, describe itself as a ‘community watchdog’. Today's top videos STORY CONTINUES BELOW They recently publicised their first and second ‘patrols’ in Limerick city and Clonmel in Co. Tipperary on social media. They have also listed the names of companies or people they label ‘plantation enablers’ on their website. Pic: Shutterstock Sinne na Daoine was founded by failed general election candidate and former Ireland First president Anthony Casey, whose group has been backed by ex-MMA star and self-styled presidential candidate Conor McGregor. A photo from the group’s first patrol in Limerick city showed the Kildare South election candidate posing beside Gerard McNamara, 37, who was jailed after he was convicted of beating his father to death in 2010. The group were dressed in orange vests featuring the Sinne na Daoine logo. An informed source described the group as ‘vigilantes’ who ‘put up stickers on the streets they patrol’. The source told Extra.ie: ‘They are organised and anyone who wants to join is screened. One of the women does the screening, and you have to do a FaceTime call or 30-second video [before being allowed onto their online forums].’ Gardaí monitored the group as they ‘patrolled’ the streets of Limerick last month. Pic: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin ‘It is a concern to gardaí and they are monitoring their activities.’ The group’s leader was pictured beside convicted killer McNamara, who was sentenced to eight years in prison, with the final two years suspended, in 2012 for killing his father in a drink-fuelled row. He pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Joseph ‘Joey’ O’Donnell, 48 at Hyde Road, Prospect, in Limerick on October 1, 2010. O’Donnell died in hospital from blunt force trauma to the head, hours after his son had kicked and beaten him with a number of household items. At the time, the court heard McNamara had 16 previous convictions, including theft and possession of drugs and public order offences. The killer addressed his past in a recent social media video where he said people’s ‘dislike’ for him was down to their ‘f***ing small narrow-minded brains’. Pic: Getty Images McNamara said: ‘I’m trying to get things going, but I need your support. Some people aren’t getting behind us, and this is going to be hard to say on video… some people aren’t getting behind me because of my personal experiences, my time in jail and stuff like that.’ He added: ‘People, their egos and stuff like that and their f***ing small narrow-minded brains just won’t let them push past the fact that what we do is a good thing but their dislike for me and my past and my mistakes is holding them back.’ The Sinne na Daoine group also includes a woman who urged her social media followers to watch a video of a man hitting and kicking another young man in Clonmel. The victim can be heard saying ‘sorry’ in the video posted to the woman’s social media account. In an expletive-laden post accompanying the clip, she said she was ‘f***ing seething’ and had ‘had enough’. She told her fellow group members: ‘It’s time to fly your Irish banners and look after your children because the entitlement in this country from people who don’t f***ing look like us, don’t sound like us and have no f***ing right to be here is gone beyond a f***ing joke.’ Pic: Getty Images She added: ‘Just in case TikTok tries to label this misinformation, inciting hateful behaviour, look at the hateful behaviour inside in this video. Take it down and see how long it takes for your building to be taken down.’ She later claimed, in reference to the incident captured on video, a group ‘went to sort it’ but then the ‘guards came in droves’. ‘Flung the people away and protected the foreigner. Scumbags,’ she commented. In response to queries, Sinne na Daoine posted their response to their website, under the headline ‘our reply to the “legacy media”’. The group said Anthony Casey was a ‘concerned parent, like the vast majority of our members,’ and not its leader. In a statement, it ‘strongly rejected’ being labelled vigilantes and urged us to ‘to redirect… investigative efforts’ toward ‘issues that have driven ordinary parents and citizens like those in Sinne na Daoine to take action to protect our neighbourhoods’. The issues listed included child trafficking and human exploitation, drug cartels, migrant crime and inflammatory comments from public figures, all of which have been covered in this newspaper. Sinne na Daoine did not address why a man convicted of killing his father was welcomed on their ‘patrols’.