FAR-RIGHT ACTIVIST DEREK Blighe contested a court order to pay €350 to a refugee charity on religious grounds, only for a judge to increase the fine and tell him to pay the new sum to a separate migrant group.

Blighe – who stood unsuccessfully last year for anti-immigration party Ireland First for election in Cork North-Central – was appearing before Fermoy District Court related to a public order offence.

The anti-immigration activist was convicted of a public order offence last year after he refused to make a donation to the Irish Refugee Council, and today appealed that conviction with the court hearing that his issue with paying was “religious” in nature.

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.

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

Blighe 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”.

O’Dwyer said that his client’s difficulty was with the position taken by the Irish Refugee Council on the repeal of the 8th amendment to the Irish constitution in relation to abortion.

Judge Helen Boyle told Blighe that she would vary the order of the District Court, so that instead of paying €350 to the Irish Refugee Council, Blighe could pay €500 to Nasc, a migrant rights group based in Cork

Blighe 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.

The court heard that further issues have occurred.

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.

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.

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 Gomez with his phone and the court was shown footage he uploaded to Facebook in which he castigated Gomez.

In the video, Blighe can be heard telling 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 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”.

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.