Former presidential candidate and businessman Peter Casey has been awarded €140,000 in damages for defamation by a Donegal acupuncturist who campaigns against “uncontrolled mass immigration”.
The award was made by a High Court judge who found that Kim McMenamin, from Buncrana, posted “defamatory and malicious remarks” about Mr Casey to 2,000 Facebook followers in April 2023.
Mr McMenamin ran in this year’s local and general elections as a candidate of The Irish People party. His election promotional literature states he has been an activist for years and stood up against “draconian” lockdowns, 4 and 5G, austerity and against undocumented and uncontrolled mass immigration.
In a judgment, Mr Justice David Nolan said the “untrue” and “defamatory” post was clearly “very stressful, hurtful and upsetting” to Mr Casey and his family.
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It arose after Mr Casey, a former RTÉ Dragons’ Den panellist, decided to turn a bed and breakfast he owned in Ludden, Buncrana, into accommodation for women and children fleeing the war in Ukraine.
The judge said the defamatory post claimed Mr McMenamin told workers at Mr Casey’s building that “moving unvetted people around like cattle and then warehousing them in office cubicles for profit is akin to human trafficking and inhumane”. Mr McMenamin suggested his post should be shared by readers.
On May 11th, 2023, a fire occurred at Mr Casey’s property that was due to host Ukrainians. Mr Justice Nolan said Mr McMenamin posted a photo of damage to the premises the next day and complained that the matter had not been reported in mainstream media outlets.
The judge said there was nothing before the court to suggest Mr McMenamin caused the fire. The evidence before him was that Mr McMenamin was “very anxious” that the general media would write about the fire, which he said was “deliberately being kept quiet, so as to keep promoting bringing people in”.
The judge said Mr McMenamin repeated the defamatory remarks by describing the premises as a direct provision centre when it was “no such thing”.
Mr Justice Nolan awarded Mr Casey €120,000 in general damages and, considering Mr McMenamin’s approach to the case, a further €20,000 in aggravated damages.
The judge said the defamatory posts remained online for nine months after the court ordered their removal in November 2023. He viewed this as a breach of a court order and a contempt of the court process.
For his ruling the judge only had to assess the level of damages Mr Casey should receive, as his High Court colleague had previously entered judgment in default of appearance against Mr McMenamin, who never engaged with the case.
Notwithstanding the earlier judgment in default, Mr Justice Nolan felt it was appropriate to decide whether the words published are in fact true and, if they are not, whether they are defamatory.
He determined that the words are untrue and, by their natural and ordinary meaning, are defamatory to Mr Casey.
He was satisfied the people who were supposed to reside at Mr Casey’s property were not “unvetted”, but were women and children fleeing from “appalling atrocities” imposed on the Ukrainian people by Vladimir Putin’s government.
He said Mr Casey’s premises was “nothing like office cubicles and, in fact, was very fine accommodation”.
The judge was also persuaded by evidence from Mr Casey that it was never his intention to make a profit, and that any money he made over and above expenses was to be “shared with the people of Donegal and the people of Ukraine”.
What was intended to take place was not “human trafficking” but a “very genuine attempt” by Mr Casey to try to “relieve the pain and suffering of the women and children of Ukraine”, the judge added.
Mr Justice Nolan said Mr Casey’s “fine reputation in society” has been harmed by Mr McMenamin’s “defamatory remarks”.
As well as running for the Áras, Mr Casey contested the 2020 General Election and 2019 and 2024 European elections as an independent.
In the most recent of these he expressed concern about what he viewed as a “total open-border policy” of the Government and Sinn Féin and said Irish MEPs made a “serious mistake” in voting in favour of the EU migration pact.
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