The 1950s saw a return to virulent confessional politics in Italy, Spain and some Latin American countries. At the time, the recently established Republic of Ireland also had the reputation of intolerance and Catholic bigotry, culminating with infamous Fethard-on-Sea Boycott of 1957. Less known is the extent to which the Irish political establishment was embarrassed by what they regarded as a discreditable and indefensible return to a dark age. This paper examines how the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs monitored anti-Protestant activities overseas and tried to intercede for persecuted Protestants whenever possible. Such activities shed a new light on the Taoiseach Eamon de Valera's attitudes to religious dissent at home and his decision to speak up against the Fethard-on-Sea Boycott in the summer of 1957.