Anti-immigration activist Derek Blighe says objection to paying Refugee Council donation was 'religious'

Olivia Kelleher

Anti-immigration activist Derek Blighe, who was convicted of a public order offence last year after he refused to make a donation to the Irish Refugee Council, on Wednesday appealed that conviction with the court hearing that his issue with paying was “religious” in nature.

Blighe of Croughevoe, Mitchelstown, Co Cork was last year given the opportunity by Judge Colm Roberts at Fermoy District Court to avail of the benefit of the Probation of Offenders Act by making the donation. He was convicted when he failed to make the contribution.

At a sitting of Cork Circuit Appeals Court today barrister Alan O’Dwyer said that it was “purely a religious matter".

He said that his client’s difficulty was with the position taken by the Irish Refugee Council on the repeal of the Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution in relation to abortion.

Judge Helen Boyle told Mr Blighe that she would vary the order of the district court. She said that instead of paying €400 to the Irish Refugee Council Blighe could pay €500 to Nasc.

Nasc is an advocacy service which links migrants and refugees to their rights.

Mr Blighe (44) indicated his willingness to make this contribution via his barrister.

Judge Boyle then adjourned the appeal for eight weeks to allow for confirmation of payment of the monies to Nasc.

State solicitor Jeremiah Healy said that the area where the public order offence occurred during a protest by Blighe and other individuals had quietened down. No further issues have occurred.

Meanwhile, Mr Blighe via solicitor Matthew Bermingham had last year told Fermoy District Court that his client was willing to donate to another charity rather than the Irish Refugee Council.

Threatening and abusive behaviour

Mr Bermingham had said that Blighe had “an issue with the genuineness of the applicants [seeking asylum and assisted by the council]".

At the time Judge Roberts said that it was not up to Blighe to choose the charity to which he was willing to donagte.

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, 2023.

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.

Facebook video

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”.

Immigration

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.