An anti-immigration activist and unsuccessful General Election candidate has been convicted at the Cork District Court of threatening and abusive behaviour at a protest outside a centre for asylum seekers.
Derek Blighe, 44, of Croughevoe, Mitchelstown, Co Cork, had been given an opportunity by Judge Colm Roberts to make a €350 donation to the Irish Refugee Council. He was told that, if he did so, he would avoid a conviction and the charge against him would be dismissed under the Probation of Offenders Act.
However, Blighe's solicitor told Judge Roberts yesterday his client was not willing to make a donation to the Irish Refugee Council. Judge Roberts then convicted Blighe and imposed a fine of €400 on him.
Blighe, who is the leader of the Ireland First party, ran as a candidate in the Cork North Central constituency in November's General Election. He received 2,475 first preference votes and was eliminated after the seventh count.
He was also a candidate in the Ireland South constituency in the European elections in June, receiving 3.64% of the first preference vote there.
He faced one charge of threatening and abusive behaviour relating to the incident that occurred in December, 2023.
It was alleged that Blighe had been abusive towards Christopher Gomez, the caretaker at Abbeyville House, Fermoy, Co Cork, a property that was being prepared for refugee accommodation at the time.
At a previous court hearing on 15 November 2024, Mr Gomez gave evidence that he was alone in the building and had ordered an oil delivery from a local company. He said that when the oil delivery truck arrived, Blighe approached the driver and spoke to him. Mr Gomez said Blighe then told him "the driver's not going to give you oil" and the truck left.
Mr Gomez contacted the oil company and a second truck was dispatched which arrived at about midday.
When the second truck arrived Mr Gomez opened the gates and the driver began making the delivery. Blighe then began recording Mr Gomez with his mobile phone and the court was shown footage that he had uploaded to Facebook.
In the video Blighe can be heard saying to Mr Gomez: "You are a guest in this country. Shame on you. You should be ashamed. You will go down in the history books, you will go down in the sewers of Irish history. Go back to where you came from."
Mr Gomez said that Blighe live-streamed the incident which he said "really traumatised me".
He said that later that afternoon he downloaded the footage from Blighe’s Facebook page and provided it to gardaí when he made a complaint. He told the court that he had been an Irish citizen for 20 years and had "never experienced anything like this before".
At the last court hearing, Judge Roberts found the facts proven in the case and ordered Blighe to make a donation of €350 to the Irish Refugee Council in order to avoid a conviction and allowed him one month to make the payment.
Defence solicitor Matthew Bermingham told the court yesterday that Blighe, who was present, was not willing to make a donation to the Irish Refugee Council.
Judge Roberts said that he would often ask for donations to charities that were relevant to the particular case and Blighe was not being treated differently in that respect. He said that if Blighe would not make a donation he would not be able to receive the benefit of the Probation Act.
Blighe was convicted under Section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act, 1994, fined €400 and given one month to pay.
