IRISH PEOPLE PARTY candidate Ross Lahive has been handed down a three-month jail sentence at Tralee District Court this afternoon for his part in disrupting a drag story event for children at Tralee library in July 2023.

Refusing to consider a suspended sentence, Judge David Waters said Mr Lahive was “the prime mover”  and had shown zero remorse for his part in the violent attack during which children had to be shielded and words like prostitutes and grooming were used. The only threat to the children were the three who arrived from Cork with the intention of disrupting the event, the judge said.

Fines have been handed down in the case of two co-accused.

The three had denied all the charges. Hearings of the case took place in Tralee and Listowel,  during which video footage was shown of noisy disruption of the event organised by Kingdom Pride.

Last Monday all three were convicted by Judge David Waters. Sentencing was deferred to allow victim impact statements to be handed in by State solicitor Diane Reidy.

45-year-old Ross Lahive, who was an Irish People Party candidate in the Ireland South constituency in the European elections, of Church Street, Shandon Street, Cork  had denied assaulting four people, including a library security guard, a woman, a male photographer for the event and another man. He was convicted on all four assault charges contrary to Section 2 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997.

“There is clear evidence in relation to all four assaults,” the judge had said. 

They included barging aside of a young man on door duty, throwing a man on the ground, twisting the arm of the female and assaulting a photographer, the judge detailed.

Eugene Manley, barrister for Lahive, in a plea for mitigation at the sentencing today said his client had cooperated fully with gardaí, was not under the influence of drugs or drink and was entitled to his views.

Mr Lahive, who is unemployed, had previously worked in construction and had studied computer programming. He had worked in Canada, the US and Australia. He was currently engaged to do a safe pass “manual handling course” and “wished to get his life back on track,” the barrister said.

He had not realised the definition of assault and at other similar events in libraries in Cork City there had been no garda involvement, Mr Manlely said, asking the judge to consider the use of umbrellas in Tralee by the drag event organisers.

Ross Lahive accepted there were “high emotions” on the day; and he had a martial arts background.

The court was told he had a previous conviction for a public order offence, dating to a month prior to the 13 July Tralee library incident. He was given the probation act on 4 December for that incident.

Judge Waters said Mr Lahive was “the prime mover”; he had carried out video recordings which were of great help to the court – and had uploaded them on social media and they included videoing six-year-old children. 

“That can’t be tolerated,” the judge said.

People were entitled to protest and had there been a peaceful protest, “we would not be here today,” Judge Waters said.

There was no expression of remorse and only a slight glimmer of insight he had carried out assaults, the judge said.

After a brief consultation with Ross Lahive Mr Manley told the judge: 

“He stands by his moral views, he instructs me.”

Judge Waters said Mr Manley’s client was not in court because of his moral views.

“He’s not in court because of his moral views – he’s here because he assaulted people and caused upset to six and seven-year-old children,” the judge said.

He had shown zero remorse, the judge said, and he could not avoid a custodial sentence.

He sentenced Lahive to three months in the case of one assault and two months each in the case of the three other persons, all to run concurrently. The public order conviction is being taken into consideration.

Amid pleas by Lahive’s barrister to suspend the sentence, the Judge said:

“This man has steadfastly maintained he did nothing wrong. There is no room for a suspended sentence.”

He could lodge an appeal if he wished, the judge said, fixing recognisances.

The only threat to the six and seven-year-olds in the library that day were “these three” the judge repeated a number of times.

Margo Mills, a part-time clerical officer, aged 37 of Carnloch Drive, The Glen, Cork had denied using threatening and abusive words or behaviour, contrary to Section 6 of The Public Order Act. 

Ms Mills had also denied assaulting another woman, contrary to Section 2 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.

Judge Waters said he had no doubt about the threatening and abusive behaviour by Ms Mills and he was also convicting her of assault, though the assault was more technical in nature and she’s seen pushing people out of her way.

“She was a very willing participant in this attempt to disrupt this event,” the judge said, imposing fines totalling €900.

Ms Mills’ solicitor Padraig O’Connell had said she had fully contested the case and she did not accept the verdict of the court. She was a married woman with a young family and had never previously come to the notice of gardaí or since.

She had adopted a principled view and she was lodging an appeal.

“Her principled view put her in this position,” Mr O’Connell said. 

Stephen McGeough aged 57 of Devonshire Street, Cork, who works part-time in a charity  shop had also denied the use of threatening or insulting words provoking breach of the peace under the Public Order Act. He too was convicted and fined €400.

Mr Manley, his barrister, said his client was suffering ill health and had no previous convictions.

However, Judge Waters said he had pleaded not guilty and he imposed the fine.

Victim impact statements were handed into the court and read by the judge.

Remarking on the case, which had been aired over two days with video and photographic evidence, the judge said all three had travelled from Cork with intent – these were people who were dependant on social welfare and were not working the judge said. (The court later heard Ms Mills and Mr McGeough were working part-time).

They arrived at the library in Tralee to confront an event for children. 

There was a violent incident and Mr Lahive was shouting  “prostitute” and other words within hearing of the children; the children were videoed and had to be moved to get them away from the behaviour. There was talk of children being groomed, the judge noted.

“There was only one risk,” the judge said – and it was the behaviour of Mr Lahive, Ms Mills and Mr McGeough that caused the children upset.

“The witnesses I viewed remained calm in the face of appalling provocation and behavior including name-calling, assaults, vitriol and appalling comments,” Judge Waters said.

The judge also said he was certain what took place was “premeditated.”

They had travelled in a group deliberately to attend the event and to intervene and their behaviour was reckless as to breach of the peace.

In September, the court heard how the event was organised by Kingdom Pride; all performers were garda vetted. The event was disrupted when the protestors “burst” into the room and began live-streaming from the event; allegations of grooming were levelled at the organisers by Ross Lahive.

 A number of organisers including a security man were assaulted, and adult volunteers at the event were called prostitutes, “absolute creatures” and other names by Ross Lahive, it is alleged.

One man was told he had bad breath and this was because he ate garlic; Children were taken to a corner of the room and organisers used umbrellas to shield them from the proceeding and from being videoed, the court has heard.  

In Listowel in October at the hearing of the defence, Mr Lahive said it was “really inappropriate” for people of the opposite sex to be dressing up and reading homosexual books, to children.

He had a martial arts background and had used “appropriate force” to enter the event room, he said. 

It was “unbelievable that there would be people to protect child grooming”, Mr Lahive said. Drag was adult entertainment, it was never used for children, he said.

“It’s traditionally adult entertainment,” he said. 

“The real issue here is grooming children” Mr Lahive insisted 

Cross-examined by Tom Rice, for the DPP, in Listowel, Mr Lahive said grooming was defined as introducing sexual concepts to children. 

Mr Rice put it to Mr Lahive that gardaí had vetting procedures “and every single person at the event was garda vetted”. The children were singing a song from Frozen when they arrived, Mr Rice said.

“I believe a lot of people disagree with this type of event. We never had this type of event in Ireland previously,” Mr Lahive replied.

All three have been given legal aid.

Mr Lahive was immediately taken into custody and preparations were being made to lodge  an appeal. 

After the court case the Listowel Family Resource Centre, which organised the Kingdom Pride event in Tralee Library welcomed the ruling.

The aim of the 121 Family Resource Centres nationwide was to build strong cohesive and diverse communities improving the lives of everyone, it said.

Jackie Landers, CEO of Listowel FRC said it was heartening to see libraries and public places being protected. 

“Community members and families should be able to attend organised events safely and

without threat to them and their children,” Ms Landers said.

The court’s decision is very important as it sets a precedent that the staff of FRCs, libraries, and other community organisations serving the public must be kept safe in doing their work and that threatening, abusive, and harmful behaviour will not be tolerated, she said.