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Irish Examiner
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Blighe asks Electoral Commission to examine process to replace him as Ireland First leader
The anti-migrant campaigner Derek Blighe has asked the Electoral Commission to examine the process to replace him as leader of the far-right Ireland First group. Mr Blighe resigned from the Ireland First party in April, saying he wants to 'resume other ambitions' and 'cannot be involved in party politics at the moment'. Mr Blighe, a construction worker from Mitchelstown, Co Cork, said the past few years have taken a large toll on both his family and work life, adding: 'I must take this step now to focus on those closest to me and work on some new exciting ventures.' He ran for Ireland First in both the local and European elections last June, and also ran in the Cork North Central constituency in the November general election. He was eliminated in the latter on the seventh count. Mr Blighe was replaced as president of the group by Anthony Casey, one of the key figures in the Sinne na Daoine, an anti-immigrant 'patrol group'. Mr Casey had been a candidate in last year's local elections for the Irish Freedom Party, whose leader Hermann Kelly has described Sinne Na Daoine as a 'vigilante group'. In a social media post on Tuesday, Mr Blighe claimed that the election to replace him was invalid. He said the election of Mr Casey had only been attended by two committee members, including himself, meaning it was invalid. 'At that point, Ireland First had five committee members, and electing new leadership required a 61% majority — four out of five votes,' Mr Blighe wrote. 'When I asked where the other committee members were, I was told two had failed to renew their memberships, and the third had said he was too busy to attend. The vote proceeded, and both myself and the other committee member present voted in favour of Anthony Casey. In the weeks following the vote, it became clear something wasn't right. After speaking with two of the absent committee members, I learned that the memberships of two committee members had been cancelled by the party on February 13 — just three days before the vote — and that all three absent committee members were not informed of, or invited to the meeting. Mr Blighe said there had been attempts to resolve the matter in early May, but that the Electoral Commission had since undertaken an investigation and invited submissions from both sides. Mr Blighe said he has 'received a huge amount of abuse and attacks over the last few months' which had 'got more frequent and intense every time the question of the Ireland First leadership vote was brought up'. He said that he had made a criminal complaint in relation to this. In a subsequent post, Mr Casey said that he 'will be more than willing to attend the first sit down with Mr Blighe and relevant others'. A spokesperson for the Electoral Commission said that an application to amend the party's register was being considered. 'The Registrar of Political Parties has received an application to amend the Register of Political Parties in respect of Ireland First. 'The application is under consideration and a decision will be published in due course.'
The Journal
09-07-2025
- Politics
- The Journal
Irish anti-immigrant groups finding 'common ground' with NI loyalists and UK neo-Nazi networks
IRISH ANTI-IMMIGRATION campaigners are working alongside those who identify as British nationalists and Ulster loyalists as part of their activism, according to a new report published this morning. The report by the Institute of Strategic Dialogue, an anti-extremism think tank, details how Irish anti-immigration figures have promoted former-UVF members on social media and held tricolours next to loyalists waving the Ulster banner during protests. 'Groups who've historically been on opposite sides—Irish nationalists and Northern Irish loyalists—are now finding common ground in anti-migrant narratives,' Zoe Manzi, an ISD hate and extremism analyst and author of the report, said. 'It's a major shift that shows old ideological lines are breaking down, replaced by shared grievances that are driving a growing and increasingly visible anti-migrant movement across the island.' The report compares this collaboration to how Islamist and far-right groups can both amplify antisemitic conspiracy theories, despite being ideologically opposed to each other. As an example, the report also notes that Tommy Robinson, a far-right British nationalist was welcomed to Dublin by Irish nationalist figures such as Derek Blighe, the former leader of the unsuccessful Ireland First political party. Robinson, who has an extensive criminal history , has expressed support for Soldier F, an officer who an inquiry into the Bloody Sunday massacre of 1972 found to have killed multiple Irish civilians in Derry. Soldier F faces trial in September. The ISD report claims that an 'emerging cross-border infrastructure for anti-migrant mobilisation' was evident in recent riots against immigrants, including in the Antrim town of Ballymena. Advertisement The recent protests were celebrated by some nationalist groups in the Republic, as well as violence that broke out during protests against a centre for asylum seekers in Coolock, Dublin, last year. Representatives for the anti-IPAS protest group, Coolock Says No, also took part in Belfast anti-migrant protests that broke out after the Southport stabbings last year (which were falsely said to have been carried out by an asylum seeker, including by Irish anti-migrant groups). Glen Kane, a loyalist activist who has been convicted of kicking a Catholic to death during a riot in 1992, also attended that protest. The report warns that loyalist figures at these events now attended by Irish anti-immigration activists often have established ties to UK neo-Nazi networks, as well as far-right groups further afield. The report also details how protests in Ireland have been used by international far-right groups to push fringe agendas. 'These include British neo-Nazi and far-right networks (some with direct ties to Loyalist groups in Northern Ireland); North American influencers who frame Irish unrest as part of a broader cultural war; and Russian-aligned propaganda outlets promoting polarising content,' the report reads. However, rather than just amplifying Irish fringe viewpoints, the report claims that these international figures are also increasingly pushing their own narratives. This often involves inciting dissent into Ireland's political discourse in a new phase that the report says is characterised by 'street protests, intimidation, targeted violence and coordinated amplification online.' Want to be your own fact-checker? Visit our brand-new FactCheck Knowledge Bank for guides and toolkits Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... It is vital that we surface facts from noise. Articles like this one brings you clarity, transparency and balance so you can make well-informed decisions. We set up FactCheck in 2016 to proactively expose false or misleading information, but to continue to deliver on this mission we need your support. Over 5,000 readers like you support us. If you can, please consider setting up a monthly payment or making a once-off donation to keep news free to everyone. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Examiner
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Irish Examiner view: Free speech does not equal a right to intimidate
Readers may be aware that there was a large gathering organised by anti-immigration campaigners in Cork over the weekend, involving several prominent far-right agitators including former Ireland First leader Derek Blighe and Hermann Kelly of the Irish Freedom Party. Soon after the march, another former member of the Irish Freedom Party, South Dublin county councillor Glen Moore, claimed on social media that some people who had attended the gathering were asked to leave a pub on Coburg Street, Sin É, and that they had been discriminated against for their political beliefs. Mr Moore's post has led to threats being made against the pub and its owners. Benny McCabe, who owns the pub, has responded in these pages to these claims. He pointed out that his staff have been abused in the past by people wearing far-right paraphernalia and stressed that customers are free to wear what they wanted as long as they do not misbehave. It should be pointed out that alongside the threats being made online against Mr McCabe's pub there are also calls for solidarity and support. There is a desperation inherent in posts like Mr Moore's, keen as they are in trying to manufacture some form of controversy, but that is hardly surprising. In Ireland, there is a small minority seeking to control narratives by turning basic concepts on their head: For them, 'patriotism' means posting for clicks, 'advocacy' means aggression, and 'protest' doubles as provocation. The basic concept of peaceful protest is a cornerstone of every democracy: People are entitled to register in public their approval or disapproval of issues which concern them. It is a fundamental right. But with rights come responsibilities. Mr McCabe was right to describe the atmosphere in Cork last weekend as one of 'low to moderate intimidation'. Public assembly is not a licence to intimidate or abuse, to imitate the Nazi salute, or to try to provoke others. Or to threaten local businesses which have been at the heart of their communities for years. Cost rationale does not add up The recent case in which Richard Satchwell was convicted of murdering his wife Tina has led to some discussion of how gardaí handled the case. Mr Satchwell buried his wife's body in their home in Youghal in 2017, but it took six and a half years for the remains to be found, leading to questions as to why that discovery was not made sooner. The use of cadaver dogs, which are trained to find bodies, has become one of the key topics in this discussion. Justice minister Jim O'Callaghan has said it would be 'preferable' if the gardaí had a cadaver dog, but said that was a decision for Garda Commissioner Drew Harris. Mr Harris was not as enthusiastic about the idea when asked about it recently, pointing out that such animals take a lot of training and often have a relatively brief working life. He added that a cadaver dog has been used just three times in his seven years as garda chief. This argument, persuasive as it appears, would probably have carried more weight if it had not been made at the same that new water cannons, which will be used by gardaí, were unveiled. Mr Harris said that the water cannons, which can be used to help quell violent disorder on the streets, would only be used in exceptional circumstances. It is to be hoped that they will not have to be used at all, of course, but the principle of having them on standby just in case is a sound one. However, the water cannons cost approximately €1.5m — which rather dwarfs the cost of training and maintaining a single cadaver dog. Maintaining public order is a key responsibility for gardaí, and any equipment which helps them to meet that responsibility is welcome. Nonetheless, it seems counter-intuitive to acknowledge that an asset which cost €1.5m will only be used in exceptional circumstances while taking pains to describe a single dog as a specialised resource which is not working every day. Surely the peace of mind which could be afforded to families if their loved ones are discovered in a timely fashion, which did not happen in Tina Satchwell's case, is worth considering when weighing the costs involved. If the funds can be found for water cannons, then the funds can be found to train, feed, and house a single dog. Brian Wilson: Sound of the 60s Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys musician, songwriter, and creative force, died this week. He was 82. In an Instagram post yesterday, his family wrote: 'We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away. We are at a loss for words right now.' Their loss will be shared by millions. Wilson helped to create some of the most sublime pop music of all time, starting with The Beach Boys's trademark songs about beach life and girls in the early 1960s, and culminating in the album Pet Sounds in 1966, often cited as one of the greatest of all time. His life was not always easy. He spent time in psychiatric hospitals during the late 1960s, and was eventually diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and mild manic depression, while he also struggled with alcoholism and spent years embroiled in legal battles with family members and bandmates. That hardly matters now: Wilson's songs are immortal. 'I can hear music,' he once sang. He certainly could. Read More
Irish Times
08-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
‘The country is going to the dogs': How agitators exploited the Carlow shooting
The shooting in Carlow last Sunday was shocking, but what followed online was depressingly familiar. As soon as word emerged of an incident at the Fairgreen Shopping Centre, far-right agitators surfaced online, like moths to a flame, spouting confident falsehoods before any facts were known. How could they know the details so quickly? They couldn't, but that didn't deter them. Offline, figures from the same ideological milieu travelled to the town to use the backdrop of the shooting as an opportunity to rant about immigration, the Government or the media – again, a well-established playbook that by now is both predictable and exhausting. And all details that had little to nothing to do with the incident itself. Just one hour after the incident in Carlow, Derek Blighe, formerly the president of the minor far-right Ireland First political party, posting on X, claimed – without evidence, because there was none – that 'apparently 7 people including a child have been shot'. This post has been viewed just shy of 400,000 times on the platform, but at the time of writing includes no note by X stating that it is false. Philip Dwyer, once associated with Ireland First, travelled to Carlow and livestreamed himself shouting at members of the fire brigade outside the shopping centre for not furnishing him with details about the supposed number of casualties. He then returned to a familiar topic. 'The country is going to the dogs. Everyday there's something going on … crime, mental health … migrant crime. I'm looking around me here in Carlow … good God. The diversity … the non-Irish people,' he said. READ MORE Back online, British far-right agitator Tommy Robinson posted on X that there were 'multiple reports of a suspected terror attack in Carlow, Ireland … gunman shot dead by Gardaí'. Another viral post, viewed over 200,000 times on X. Journalists, gardaí and emergency responders at the scene were berated for not releasing details about the incident fast enough. And when they did release details, they were admonished when those details didn't match the narrative circulating on social media. Carlow has quickly become another case study in how false and misleading information pollutes our online information environment, and why our democratic institutions must better equip themselves to counter this challenge. By now, we have a good grasp of the facts. Shortly after 6.15pm last Sunday, a man entered the Fairgreen Shopping Centre and fired a number of shots into the air. In the ensuing panic, a young girl suffered a minor leg injury when fleeing the scene. Outside the shopping centre, the man used his firearm again and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. No one else was shot and gardaí did not discharge their firearms. Evan Fitzgerald, from Kiltegan, Co Wicklow, walked through the Fairgreen Shopping Centre in Carlow firing a shotgun into the air The gunman was later named as Evan Fitzgerald, from Kiltegan, Co Wicklow, a 22-year-old who appeared in court last month on charges related to offences associated with purchasing firearms on the dark web last year. This was established through media reporting and garda statements, four of which were released by Monday lunchtime. In the second of those statements , gardaí confirmed the ethnicity and nationality – white Irish – of the man who died at the scene. In their fourth statement, they shared detailed information about the incident. Media reports described him as 'vulnerable'. [ Man dead after shots fired in Carlow shopping centre, Army bomb disposal team called to scene Opens in new window ] The practice of gardaí sharing such specific information regarding a suspect and an unfolding situation is unprecedented. It signals the force's attempts to combat the spread of harmful misinformation before it has potentially deadly consequences. We don't have to look too far back to recall how online misinformation and hate can fuel offline violence in the space of a few hours. Rioting broke out across the UK last summer after the Southport stabbing when anti-migrant and anti-Muslim narratives helped instigate violence, while closer to home, we all remember the Dublin riots of November 2023. More recently, police in Merseyside acted similarly in the aftermath of the car ramming incident at the Liverpool FC parade . Blighe, Dwyer and Robinson have a track record of portraying their respective countries as places of lawlessness, neglected by authorities and riven by (typically migrant) crime. They opportunistically jump on any purported incident they believe – usually incorrectly – reinforces this sentiment and, in the words of Steve Bannon, accordingly 'flood the zone with shit' online. It is, at its heart, part of a wider nativist, populist strategy employed internationally by the far right to appeal to the public for political support, monetised subscriptions and broader cultural influence. While evidence was still being gathered, none of these figures could have been aware of what had transpired. Yet they – and many others – worked swiftly to fill an information vacuum that develops after such incidents while gardaí, local services and the media work to establish the facts. It is no coincidence that the three operate 'blue tick' accounts on X. The platform offers financial rewards for creating viral, sensationalist content, with few repercussions when that content later turns out to be wrong. These posts are then weaponised by far-right figures for their own ideological agendas, and sometimes used to exploit tragic cases such as this one. [ Carlow shooting: Taoiseach criticises spreading of misinformation and 'blatant lies' online Opens in new window ] There is an ongoing conflict between old and new media systems here. The slower, methodical practices of police and media in reporting on such incidents is rarely a match for the rapid sharing of content online that includes serious and potentially harmful claims with no factual basis. All of this signals how fundamentally broken our online information ecosystem has become. This is best encapsulated in the tiring trope that is typically found in online spaces after reports of an incident like the Carlow shooting emerge: repeated cries that the gardaí or mainstream media are deliberately not releasing information about an incident. Delay is interpreted as deceit and fact checking becomes censorship. This week, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said this kind of misinformation can result in a lot of 'public disquiet' and needs to be addressed. 'There is a family in mourning right now. The level of misinformation on Sunday was quite shocking, and we can't just ignore that and say: 'Well, we don't have to do anything about that.'' This wasn't a question of freedom of speech, he said. 'I wouldn't overstate the impact on clamping down on blatant lies online as a sort of incursion or an undermining of freedom of speech.' The Carlow shooting has quickly become another reminder that unless we address these imbalances – between old and new media, the power of social media and the need to stop misinformation – trust in our core democratic principles and institutions will continue to erode. Ciarán O'Connor is a researcher and journalist who focuses on extremism and technology
Irish Examiner
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Gardaí preparing for thousands at pro-Palestinian and far-right rallies in Cork
Gardaí in Cork say they will have 'appropriate and proportionate policing measures' in place to allow people express their rights and maintain public order during two large rallies in the city on Saturday. It is understood that gardaí are preparing for a crowd of between 8,000 to 10,000 people. A pro-Palestine march and what's being billed as a "national protest for Ireland", organised by anti-immigration campaigners and far-right agitators, are set to take place in the city at around the same time on Saturday afternoon. A Munster–wide rally and march for Palestine is set to start at 1pm on the Grand Parade. There has been a march for Palestine through Cork City every Saturday since the war in Gaza started. On Saturday, members of the public and Palestinian solidarity groups from across Cork, Kerry, Clare, Limerick, Waterford and Tipperary will converge on the city for what could be one of the largest rallies to date. They will gather afterwards on the Grand Parade where speakers will call on the Irish Government to place sanctions on Israel, to stop the Central Bank from authorising the sale of Israeli bonds in Europe, and to pass a strong Occupied Territories Bill. Anti-immigration At around the same time, several leading anti-immigration activists and far-right agitators are also set to gather on the Grand Parade for what they've called a "national protest for Ireland". Several thousand people marched in a similar rally in Dublin last month. The former Ireland First leader and failed European and general election candidate Derek Blighe is among the main organisers of the Cork event. Participants will then move from the Grand Parade and march to City Hall, where speakers are expected to criticise the Government and the media on a range of issues — including immigration, housing, and health. In a statement on Friday, gardaí said they are aware of and prepared for both events. 'Ireland operates as a constitutional democracy, ensuring that citizens have the right to express their beliefs and opinions freely, as well as to gather peacefully, in accordance with legal provisions,' a spokesperson said. To manage public gatherings effectively, An Garda Síochána employs appropriate and proportionate policing measures, enabling citizens to exercise their rights while maintaining public order 'In response to evolving events, An Garda Síochána follows a community policing model, adopting a graduated approach that aligns with relevant legislation and prioritises public safety.' The Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign says it has organised online training with up to 50 stewards to 'protect their movement, space, and community', and that they have had extensive contact with gardaí on logistics. Traffic disruption is expected in the city centre island area around lunchtime, and could last for over an hour. Read More Trinity college board votes to cut ties with Israeli universities and companies
