Just to put this one to bed. I’ve stumbled across a very old thread from 2008.
https://www.britishbadgeforum.com/fo...l+Irish+Rifles
The badge Jeanpit shows was collected by his grandfather in WW1 as a gift from a British soldier to a young boy, so has cast iron provenance. It is clearly from the same die as mine and Alan’s, evident from the flaw (most apparent in picture 3) that I mentioned above.
Which means these are indeed without doubt genuine badges, and, badges from this die exhibiting the flaw were worn by the men of the 14th Battalion RIR on the Western Front during the Great War.
Alan - hope you didn’t ditch your badge from post #28!