AT THE HEIGHT of last week’s fuel price protests, a page on the donation-based platform GoFundMe was set up on behalf of those who had brought parts of the country to a standstill. 

Titled “Support the Protests. Money for food and drinks”, it said any money raised would be used to buy food and hot drinks for protesters as “a simple way to show them the country has their back”.

The fundraiser, set up by Irish-based internet personality Michael McCarthy on 9 April, almost immediately went viral and pulled in tens of thousands of euro within hours, despite the initial target being set at just €3,000.

By the time donations were paused on Sunday 12 April, almost six thousand people had pledged €152,965 between them, including five individual contributions of €1,000 or more.

The donations seemed to be coming from within Ireland and abroad, with a mix of people who pledged money anonymously and others who used their own names.

One of those who donated described themselves on the page as an “English military veteran” who urged the protesters to “stay strong” and “remember we support you whatever comes”.

A week after the fundraiser was launched, it’s not clear how exactly the money will be used or distributed.

McCarthy has built up a large social media following for his streams about Irish political issues, including anti-immigration videos; he has more than 400,000 followers on Facebook and over a million followers on Instagram.

His online posts have been fact-checked a number of times over misleading claims he has made about migrants, many of which have been debunked.

They include claims by him that children are being taught Islamic prayers in schools; that footage of a woman being attacked in a church was from Europe; and that the majority of Irish people disagree with the EU. 

On the day the fundraiser was launched, a Facebook group called The People of Ireland Against Fuel Prices – one of the main social media pages behind the protests – issued a callout for “food, tea, coffee and supplies” for protesters at Dublin’s M50 motorway.

One person replied beneath their post to say McCarthy’s GoFundMe page had raised tens of thousands of euro for that purpose, but the admin of the Facebook page responded: “And here we are starving”.

When asked by another commenter whether money had been given to those behind the page, the admin also replied: “No it hasn’t”.

The Journal first contacted GoFundMe on Friday 10 April to ask how it would verify that the money raised would go to feed protesters. 

A spokesperson for the platform said at the time that it was in contact with McCarthy “while we vet this campaign and remain in control of the funds”.

The GoFundMe page was still taking donations on Saturday 11 April after gardaí ended a blockade at the Whitegate oil refinery in Cork, and was paused on Sunday after blockades were cleared from the streets of Dublin.

McCarthy updated the page after donations were suspended to say that GoFundMe had “paused the transfer of funds while they verify everything” and said he was “working through that with them and fully cooperating”.

It’s understood that McCarthy paused donations himself.

On Monday, a GoFundMe spokesperson told The Journal it was still in contact with McCarthy while it vetted the campaign, adding that the monies raised “are safely held with our payment processor”.

That evening, McCarthy posted a reel to his Instagram story with a link to a website called Nationrises.com, urging businesses to upload receipts if they had bought any food or hot drinks for protesters. The reel has since disappeared from McCarthy’s profile.

The website describes itself as “building a movement for political activism in Ireland” and calls on supporters to “join us in shaping a better future for Irish families and communities”.

The domain name Nationrises.com was registered on 19 February, but its primary use is to allow businesses to declare they have fed protesters, to name the businesses that have registered, and to solicit donations to McCarthy’s GoFundMe page.

At the time of writing, 38 names based in 14 different counties had registered on the website.

The list mostly comprises cafés, takeaways and food trucks, though a number of individuals have also registered despite a requirement on the website for a person to tick a box that says “I confirm this is a registered food business in Ireland”.

We contacted 15 food businesses listed on the website to ask whether they had received money for feeding protesters and how the verification process worked.

Of the handful that responded, one business based in Limerick said that while they had registered to participate, they were not actually able to support protesters due to staff shortages last weekend.

On 12 April, McCarthy updated the GoFundMe page to say that donations to the page had been paused, and that he was planning to hire an accountant and solicitor “to make sure everything is handled properly and above board”.

“A small amount [of the money raised] will go towards those fees,” he wrote.

“This money belongs to the people who gave it and it will be treated that way. Every penny spent will be published publicly.”

The Journal contacted GoFundMe to ask why donations had been paused and how they were verifying that the money would go to those who bought food or hot drinks for protesters.

A spokesperson reiterated their statement from last week that they were in contact with McCarthy and that the money was safely held with its “payment processor”.

The Journal also contacted McCarthy for an update on the situation and asked a number of questions about the money raised and how he planned to get it to those it was intended for.

Our questions included a request for an explanation about how McCarthy would verify that the money will go to cafés and suppliers who had fed protesters, if he could outline the safeguards in place to prevent people from submitting fraudulent receipts, and give information about the expected cost of the accountant and solicitor he was planning to hire.

However, he would not answer these questions directly.

He told us that “full accounts of every penny spent will be published publicly” and that records of food and supplies being delivered to protesters are “publicly available” on his Instagram account.

“The vast majority of my 1.6 million followers donated to this fund and they are the ones who hold me to account. I have their trust and I will deliver on that. I answer to them and the Irish people,” he said.

When asked whether any money had been paid to businesses, McCarthy said this had not happened because GoFundMe had not yet released the funds.

“Businesses were informed of this early on and agreed to help on that basis. If you followed along you would know this,” he said.

The Journal also asked McCarthy about a claim he made in an update on the GoFundMe page on 12 April that he was “covering costs personally” while the money was held by the platform – and whether this was the case if none of the businesses had been paid yet.

He clarified that he was referring to initial purchases he made when the GoFundMe page was set up, when “the expectation was that funds would be accessible quickly to pay directly for food and supplies”.

However, he said that after it became clear that the process would take a number of days, he instead asked cafés and restaurants to register in his reel on Instagram “with the understanding they’d be fully reimbursed once funds cleared”.

“All of this has been tracked and communicated with GoFundMe throughout,” McCarthy added.

“We are currently finalising an attestation document to ensure every business that provided food and supplies is paid correctly and everything is fully accounted for.”

McCarthy was also asked what he planned to do with the rest of the money if it is released to him by GoFundMe, given the unlikelihood that €150,000 was spent on food and drinks over six days.

He said he has been “working on a solution that is maximally rewarding for everyone who donated” and suggested he would put the issue to a public vote on his social media channels.

“One idea I am developing is a wish granting initiative for children in hospitals, working with nurses and doctors to quietly find out what children are hoping for and granting those wishes directly,” he said.

“I think that captures the same spirit of ordinary people helping people that drove this fundraiser from the start.”

He added that everything would be “decided transparently with a clear public plan” and that anyone who donated would be given two weeks to request a refund “if they do not approve of the decision”, which he claimed GoFundMe “can facilitate”.