WI: D'Annunzio's legionnaires in the Irish War of Independence?

[Von Tyrconnell]

Yes, this is in fact real. https://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/gabriele-dannunzio-irish-republic-1919-21/

During the Irish War of Independence there was a plot by the Irish Republic and Italian fascists to smuggle guns into Ireland on a boat called the Stella Maris. At one point the Irish representative was met by Gabriele d'Annunzio at Lake Garda, and apparently some of d'Annunzio's legionaries wished to board the Stella Maris to fight in Ireland, while according to Irish external affairs records Gabriele d'Annunzio himself was disappointed in the king of Italy for crushing the regency of Carnaro and wanted a new field elsewhere by appearing as the benefactor of the Irish Republic.

Eamon de Valera however declined the offer and the plot was ultimately uncovered by the British. What if this had not happened and the Stella Maris set sail for Ireland?

 

[ShortsBelfast]

There would have been something of a clash of cultures. Irish Catholicism of the time was very Jansenist and puritanical. For instance, the locals burnt out Lady Muskerry's house during the Troubles of the period. She was a Catholic and married into an ancient Irish family but they didn't like her bringing her poodle with her to Mass.
Now D'Annunzio and company were a little... flamboyant -much, much more so than Lady Muskerry. Which is no doubt why de Valera declined the offer OTL. So, were d'Annunzio and company to show up with the camp followers of both sexes and the Bolivian marching powder, they would be seen as discrediting the movement and (like OTL IRA hotheads) either sent into an attack that they weren't expected to come back from or betrayed (either deliberately and tactically by the IRA or in the old fashioned way by disgusted local residents). Most positive result might have been if their antics put O'Duffy off Fascism!