Derek Blighe

Derek Blighe (born 1980) is an Irish far-right anti-immigration political activist. A construction worker by trade, Blighe was an economic migrant to Canada during the post-2008 Irish economic downturn. Following his return to Ireland in 2019, Blighe became politically active during the Irish anti-immigration protests, in which he acted as a self-described "citizen journalist". This involved him attending, filming and promoting anti-immigration protests across Ireland. As part of this activism, Blighe has promoted the great replacement conspiracy theory as explaining the basis for immigration into Ireland. In 2023, he became the leader of a registered political party Ireland First, with anti-immigration as the main plank of its platform. In April 2025, Blighe announced he had quit the Ireland First party and said he wanted to “resume other ambitions” and “cannot be involved in party politics at the moment”.