The making of a far-right agitator: From Irish emigrant to anti-refugee extremist

“How’ya doing folks, Derek here,” breezes self-styled anti-immigration activist Derek Blighe on yet another video, dispensing with the need to introduce himself fully to an audience that knows him, his views and his style.

Blighe (42) started making street videos in the early summer of 2022. While he had some Covid-19 lockdown gripes, he focused within months on the arrival of Ukrainian refugees and the State’s renting of hotel rooms for them.

One video taken in Killarney typifies his modus operandi: he goes into a hotel and surreptitiously films the receptionist as he asks if there are rooms available for a homeless friend. Then, he feigns surprise when told the hotel is occupied by Ukrainians. Outside, he rails on camera about refugees and asylum seekers being given accommodation in “four-star” hotels paid for by the State while native Irish are left sleeping homeless on the streets. The approach is basic, perhaps, but it has been productive for Blighe, who is now identified by some observers as a significant player among what Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has recently described as “a niche but dangerous phenomenon”.

So, how did Blighe, who with faux humility describes himself as “a dumb blocklayer”, manage to attain prominence among the many competing figures on the Irish far right with many of his posts getting 2,000 and 3,000 views?

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Born in 1980, he is one of Mallow man Denis Blighe and his Millstreet-born wife, Maureen’s six children, though he moved with his mother and four brothers to Rylane in Mid-Cork when his parents split up.

Rylane is a small village in Aghabullogue parish. There, the family lived in Knockagoun Place, but in 1992, he was caught up in the middle of a row between his older brother, Tommy, and their neighbours, the Moynihans. Tommy was charged with assaulting John Moynihan. In the case, John Moynihan told the judge that he had had to haul Derek off his son after he had caught him by the throat, but he denied using excessive force when doing so.

[He] used to wear this Orlando Magic jacket that was about two sizes too big for him and it used to be hanging off him

—  A fellow pupil recalls Blighe's school days

Moynihan admitted that there had been a long history of trouble between his wife, Bina, and Maureen Blighe ever since the Blighes arrived, while his wife admitted name-calling, but only after she was insulted first by Ms Blighe. Confirming the dispute, Sgt Kevin Donnelly said he had had to call regularly to both families before Judge Brendan Wallace warned everyone to behave themselves or else they would be bound to the peace.

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‘Swagger’

Blighe attended Rylane National School, McEgan College in Macroom and Coachford Community College, where one fellow pupil remembers him for both his dress sense and his attitude. “[He] used to wear this Orlando Magic jacket that was about two sizes too big for him and it used to be hanging off him, but he had this swagger and the attitude to go with it – a bit of a hard man and no stranger to getting into scrapes at discos and that sort of thing.”

After leaving school, Blighe, then living in St Luke’s in Cork, completed a National Council for Vocational Awards course and proudly accepted an award from then minister for education and science and future target of his ire, Micheál Martin. Becoming a father in his early 20s, Blighe worked in construction in Cork during the Celtic Tiger years but emigrated to Canada after the crash, working as a crane driver in Alberta for SA Energy Group, which supplies pipelines to the oil industry.

There, he met his Canadian-born wife. In those days he showed little interest in the online activism other than liking various articles critical of plans to curb oil production and pipeline construction. By 2017, however, he had become interested in immigration, liking and posting statements from European right-wing figures such as Matteo Salvini in Italy, Marine Le Pen in France and Viktor Orban in Hungary.

He returned to Ireland with his wife and two young sons in 2019, buying a house at Croughavoe near Ballygiblin outside Mitchelstown, Co. Cork. From there, he began to be significantly active online.

What triggered his views about refugees and asylum seekers is not clear, but he quickly relayed standard far-right conspiracy theories such as The Great Replacement, alleging that Europe is overrun by immigrants from Africa and the Middle East.

Blighe was not alone. His brother, Tommy, now known as Tommy Murphy following convictions as Tommy Blighe for burglary and drugs, has espoused similar views and accompanies his brother in street protests. Blighe was happy to receive plaudits for both himself and Tommy from former Irish National Party member Philip Dwyer when Dwyer congratulated both for disrupting last year’s centenary event to honour Michael Collins at Beal na Bláth.

[ The immigration genie is out of the bottle and cannot be simply wished back in ]

Blighe had met Dwyer during one of Dwyer’s Men of Ireland treks on Djouce Mountain in Co Wicklow, where Blighe impressed his mentor by getting to the summit even though he was on crutches. Subsequently, they traded compliments in a video interview following the Béal na Bláth incident.

“That was mainly Men of Ireland Trek members – I’m very proud of that, the Ambush at Béal na Bláth 2022, I call it,” says Dwyer, applauding the two, “It was priceless, and it was heard on RTÉ live.” Earlier in the video, watched more than 4,000 times, Blighe praised Dwyer for his stand on refugees and asylum seekers: “It was the likes of yourself and a few others that blazed a trail for me. Nobody else doorsteps politicians and nobody else hassles the establishment like you did. If I can give them half the grief that you gave them over the years, I will be patting myself on the back then, you know, but until then – fair play to you.”

Trade unionist

Blighe and his brother Tommy’s views are shared by some other family members. His London-based brother, Paul Murphy Blighe, has posted anti-immigrant videos on his Facebook page. So, too, does his half-sister, Elaine O’Shea, named in recent injunction proceedings to stop protests outside houses in Macroom that protesters wrongly thought were being built for Ukrainians, though she later told a court hearing that she was not involved.

That three of the Blighe brothers should adopt such views surprises many in Mallow who knew their late father, Denis, a staunch trade unionist and supporter of the late Workers’ Party and Democratic Left TD Joe Sherlock. “Denis was a very dedicated trade unionist – he would have been a union representative for the workers in Erin Foods and it would have been the ITGWU at the time. Politically, then, he was very loyal to Joe Sherlock,” says one Mallow local.

After Erin Foods closed, Denis Blighe worked with the Cork Centre for the Unemployed and the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed. There, he wrote to The Irish Examiner in January 2001 expressing support and concern for refugees. Criticising large pay rises for government ministers, Denis Blighe declared that refugees, “working in non-union jobs, are being exploited by low wages”. He advocated for refugees again seven months later. “Refugees find it difficult to find accommodation. People tell them to come and see the property and say they will call them back, but the phone never rings. Some landlords seem to have a problem with them,” said Blighe snr, by then working for Threshold.

Derek Blighe’s views on his late father’s advocacy for refugees are unknown, but he is frank about his motives for campaigning against refugees coming into Ireland, declaring it to be a his responsibility to his own young family. “Twenty years down the road when my kids ask me – cos this will be in the history books, because we will look back on this time and go ‘Aw, s**t – what was going on back then?” he says.

“The fact I can tell my kids I stood up against it and I did my best for them will make men out of them. That’s the goal of every father with his sons,” he says, adding: “You have to prepare them for the worst.”

Blighe’s campaign has seen him attend or lead anti-refugee protests in Dublin and Wicklow and Listowel in Co Kerry and Lismore in Co. Waterford, as well as closer to his north Cork home in Mitchelstown and Fermoy. In Mitchelstown, a December protest against Ukrainians who had settled in Kingston College was joined by just two or three people. He filmed himself walking alongside the Ukrainians trying to provoke them.

He had more success in Fermoy organising a rally against housing refugees there, when 60 or so protesters attended, but this was dwarfed three days later when over 300 people gathered to reject his anti-immigrant message.

Today, Blighe presents himself as “a citizen journalist”, where he has frequently challenged gardaí about their investigations into crimes he alleges were committed by foreign nationals, saying that there is a “culture” in the force that does not want to highlight this.

Sometimes, the allegations are known not to stand up.

‘Fake refugees’

Last September at a Cork rally with Canadian conspiracy theorist Chris Sky, Blighe said: “I support immigration, but what I don’t want is our Government opening up our borders and filling this country up with unvetted, fake refugees that have no right to be here.”

Blighe’s postings follow a well-worn path, says Aoife Gallagher, author of Web of Lies – The Lure and Danger of Conspiracy Theories and an analyst with the UK based counter-extremism think-tank, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.

“[He] has become a key agitator within the extreme right movement in Ireland and a leading organiser of protests across the country against the housing of refugees and asylum seekers,” Ms Gallagher told The Irish Times. “He has done this by posting provocative videos online touting typical anti-migrant lines, such as claims that migrants pose a danger to women and children, that they are taking houses from Irish people, or are here to ‘replace’ the Irish.”

His public confrontations, she says, are designed “to provoke a reaction”, while his online history shows that he shares conspiracy theories about the war in Syria, Infowars’ Alex Jones’ content, climate change denial, the anti-vaccine movement and QAnon. Conspiracy theories have “a snowballing effect”, she warns: “When people buy into one, they will buy into more. This can often lead to people developing a conspiratorial worldview, where they view all events in the world through the lens of a conspiracy.”

Tommy Robinson’s arrival led to splits in the already fractious Irish far right, with many coming from a strongly nationalist background publicly shunning him over his support for loyalists and former British soldiers

More recently, Blighe has retweeted posts by British neo-Nazi Mark Collett of Patriotic Alternative, and English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson, who joined Blighe at his usual weekly protest in Fermoy along with 20 others.

Robinson’s presence in Fermoy wearing his citizen journalist’s hat may say more about Robinson’s fall from the days when he was addressing English Democratic League rallies of 1,000 than about Blighe’s rise, says one international observer of the English far-right. Robinson’s arrival led to splits in the already fractious Irish far right, with many coming from a strongly nationalist background publicly shunning him over his support for loyalists and former British soldiers accused of murder and other crimes in Northern Ireland.

[ Gardaí monitoring activity of prominent far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson ]

However, Blighe argues that Robinson wants to protect England in the same way he wants to protect Ireland. “If Tommy Robinson wants to come over here and learn some new tricks and get some footage, maybe make a documentary, I have no problem with that,” he said.

Last Saturday, Blighe attended a counter-rally to a Cork Against Racism rally, though the Hope and Courage Collective, which monitors extremist groups, insists that many of Blighe’s supporters were not local but came from Dublin, Limerick, Sligo and Waterford. “Blighe will talk about being peaceful but… his entire raison d’etre is whipping up fear and anger. What he wants is someone to react when he confronts them, because that makes for brilliant video content, and he gets to be martyred then as well,” says the collective.

Appeal for funding

Continuing to work as a blocklayer, Blighe has appealed for funding, telling his 4,000-plus followers on his Telegram account on January 21st that “things are getting hairy, we need to upgrade security as our houses and families are being threatened”. He has sought funds, too, to buy new film and sound equipment and travel costs.

Donations made on PayPal and Revolut are not publicly accessible but he has raised over €5,000 on his Givesendgo fundraising page. He has expressed views on other subjects, too. In an interview with former TV3 Exposé presenter and anti-vax campaigner Aisling O’Loughlin last year, he supported teacher Enoch Burke who, he says, had “pushed back against the establishment”.

[Gardaí] later returned with a warrant along with members of the Garda Armed Support Unit. Blighe promptly complied and handed over the gun

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His decision to go into Palyanytsya, a Ukrainian hub on Merchant’s Quay in Cork to challenge staff on September 30th last has had consequences in a way he could scarcely have envisaged. The incident prompted the then Fermoy-based Garda Superintendent Padraic Powell immediately to revoke Blighe’s licence for two rifles and a shotgun, which he legally held at his home.

Local gardaí called to Blighe’s home early on October 3rd to seek surrender of the weapons, but he refused. Later, they returned with a warrant along with members of the Garda Armed Support Unit. Blighe promptly complied and handed over the guns. It is open to Blighe to reapply for the high-calibre guns, which he has for shooting game, but if gardaí refuse to return them then he will have to go to court, where gardaí will have to outline their objections before a judge who will adjudicate.

In Mallow, one local is unimpressed, saying Blighe did not get his politics from his father: “Denis was a solid union man and he campaigned for refugees – he would be turning in his grave if he thought his son was involved in this sort of stuff,” he said.