FAR-RIGHT ACTIVIST Derek Blighe has appeared before Fermoy District Court related to a public order offence.

Blighe, the leader of anti-immigration party Ireland First, is running for election in Cork North-Central.

He has been found guilty of a single charge of threatening and abusive behaviour in the District Court.

Blighe, 44, of Croughevoe, Mitchelstown, Co Cork appeared before Judge Colm Roberts at Fermoy District Court where he faced one charge under Section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act, 1994.

Court presenter Inspector Jason Wallace told the court it was alleged that Blighe had engaged in threatening and abusive behaviour during an incident at Abbeyville House, Fermoy, Co. Cork on December 22, 2023.

Giving evidence, witness Christopher Gomez said that he was the duty manager at Abbeyville House on that day. He said that the building was being prepared as accommodation for asylum seekers and a protest had been taking place for several months outside the building by people who were opposed to its use as refugee accommodation.

Gomez told the court 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 at about 11 am Derek Blighe approached the driver and spoke to him.

Gomez said Blighe then told him “the driver’s not going to give you oil” and the truck left. Gomez contacted the oil company and a second truck was dispatched which arrived at about midday.

When the second truck arrived Gomez opened the gates and the driver began making a delivery. Blighe then began recording 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 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.”

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.”

Garda Dane Murphy said that when he visited the protest at Abbeyville House later that day the atmosphere was “borderline volatile,” he told the court that Blighe made a caution statement regarding the incident on January 9, 2024 but replied “no comment” to every question he was asked.

Giving evidence Blighe told the court that he had spoken to Gomez in the context of concerns about 56 single men being moved into Abbeyville House. He said he did not realise that Gomez had been an Irish citizen for 20 years when he made the comments and he refuted any suggestion he was a racist. He added that he had taken down the Facebook post when he was made aware that “nasty things” were being said in the comments. He said the protest was “against illegal immigration as we saw it.”

Defence solicitor Matthew Bermingham said that the evidence did not amount to a breach of the peace. He added that Blighe had removed the Facebook post when he was made aware of negative comments.

Judge Roberts said he found the “black and white” attitude towards immigration “hard to understand” especially from an Irish perspective where generations had emigrated and “the vast majority of them illegally.”

He said that Blighe’s reasoning was like the film Minority Report where people were found guilty before they had done anything.

He said that Blighe had admitted that the Facebook post had encouraged negative comments and was therefore “accepting what you put up was if not causing a breach of the peace potentially leading to it.” The judge said that he found the facts in the case proven. The court heard that Blighe had eight previous convictions including one for public order.

Judge Roberts ordered Blighe to make a donation of €350 to the Irish Refugee Council and allowed him one month to make the payment. The case was adjourned until December 13 by which time if the payment is made Blighe will receive the benefit of the Probation Act. Default will result in a €400 fine and conviction.