Anti-immigration activist Derek Blighe has been convicted of a public-order offence and fined €400 over a protest outside an asylum seeker centre after he refused to make a donation to the Irish Refugee Council to avoid a conviction.
Blighe (44), of Croughevoe, Mitchelstown, Co Cork, leader of the Ireland First party, was last month given the opportunity by Judge Colm Roberts at Fermoy District Court to avoid a criminal conviction and avail of the benefit of the Probation of Offenders Act by making the donation.
When the case was called on Friday, Blighe’s solicitor, Matthew Bermingham, said his client, who polled 2,475 votes in the Cork North Central constituency in the recent general election, was willing to donate to another charity.
“Mr Blighe has an issue with the genuineness of the applicants [seeking asylum and assisted by the council],” he said, adding that Blighe had the money with him and was willing to donate to a charity such as Cork Penny Dinners which assists the homeless.
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However, the judge said Blighe could not choose a charity and there was nothing wilful about his choice as he frequently requested defendants make donations to charities working in areas relevant to their offending.
“He can’t go tarnishing the reputation of the Irish Refugee Council because that’s what he’s doing by saying he questions the genuineness of the applicants they assist. He can’t do that,” the judge said.
Mr Bermingham consulted with Blighe, who confirmed he was not willing to make a donation to the Irish Refugee Council. The judge said that was his choice and he convicted Blighe and fined him €400.
At a previous court sitting, Insp Jason Wallace said it was alleged that Blighe had engaged in threatening and abusive behaviour during an incident at Abbeyville House, Fermoy, on December 22nd last. Witness Christopher Gomez said he was duty manager at Abbeyville when it was being prepared as accommodation for migrants and a protest by people opposing its use for this purpose had been taking place for several months outside.
Mr Gomez said he had ordered an oil delivery from a local company. When the delivery truck arrived at about 11am, he said Blighe approached the driver and spoke to him. He 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. He opened the gates when it arrived and the driver began making the delivery. Blighe then began recording Mr Gomez with his phone and the court was shown footage he uploaded to Facebook in which he castigated Mr Gomez.
In the video, Blighe can be heard telling 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 Blighe live-streamed the incident which “really traumatised me”. He later downloaded the footage and provided it to gardaí when making a complaint. He said he had been an Irish citizen for 20 years and had “never experienced anything like this before”.
Garda Dane Murphy said he visited the protest at Abbeyville later that day and the atmosphere was “borderline volatile”. He said Blighe made a cautioned statement regarding the incident on January 9th last, but replied “no comment” to every question he was asked.
The judge said he found the “black and white” attitude towards immigration “hard to understand” especially from an Irish perspective where generations of Irish people had emigrated and “the vast majority of them illegally”.
He then gave Blighe, whom the court heard had eight previous convictions, including one for public order, the opportunity to avoid a criminal conviction by making the donation to the Irish Refugee Council.
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