An anti-immigration activist and unsuccessful candidate in the recent general election has been convicted of threatening and abusive behaviour in the District Court because he refused to make a charity donation to the Irish Refugee Council.
Derek Blighe, 44, of Croughevoe, Mitchelstown, Co Cork, appeared before Judge Colm Roberts at Fermoy District Court.
Mr Blighe, who is the leader of the right-wing Ireland First party, was an unsuccessful candidate for the party in Cork North Central at the 2024 general election.
He faced one charge of threatening and abusive behaviour relating to an incident that occurred in December 2023.
It was alleged that Mr Blighe had been abusive towards Mr 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 hearing on November 15th, 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 Derek Blighe approached the driver and spoke to him.
Mr Gomez said Mr 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 a delivery.
Mr 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 Mr 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 Mr Blighe live-streamed the incident which he said “really traumatised me.”
He said that later that afternoon he downloaded the footage from Mr 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.”
Judge Roberts found the facts proven in the case and ordered Mr 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 that Mr 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 Mr Blighe was not being treated differently in that respect.
He said that if Mr Blighe would not make a donation he would not be able to receive the benefit of the Probation Act.
Derek Blighe was convicted under Section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act, 1994, fined €400 and given one month to pay.
