Peter Casey awarded €140K over Facebook post by Buncrana election candidate 

Former presidential candidate Peter Casey has been awarded €140,000 in damages by the High Court after taking a defamation case against Buncrana general election candidate Kim McMenamin over a 2023 Facebook post.

The Derry businessman, who lives in Donegal, took the action over remarks by Mr McMenamin, an acupuncturist, in relation to a building at Ludden near Buncrana that Mr Casey planned to turn into accommodation for Ukrainian refugees.

Through a company which he owns, Claddagh Resources Ltd, Mr Casey sought to convert the property to make it suitable for women and children from Ukraine. He said he intended to distribute any profits made from the rental to the people of Donegal and the people of Ukraine.

In his judgement, Mr Justice David Nolan said Mr McMenamin had  “expressed serious opposition to the idea of non-nationals coming” to Buncrana and Donegal.

The judge said Mr McMenamin, was a  member of a group known as National Alliance - Irish People and an administrator of a Facebook  group called the Buncrana Community Watch.

On April 25, 2023 a post on his Facebook page said Buncrana Community Watch members had visited the building and had informed workers that “moving  unvetted  people  around  like  cattle  and  then warehousing  them  in  office  cubicles  for  profit  is  akin  to  human  trafficking  and inhumane”.  He suggested that the post be shared.

A candidate in the local elections in June and this month’s general for The Irish People party, Mr McMenamin had stated in promotional literature that he has stood up against undocumented, uncontrolled mass immigration. 

The building was damaged in a fire on the night of May 11, 2023.  Mr McMemamin was away at the time, but posted a photograph of damage to the building the next day. Judge Nolan said there was no evidence that Mr McMenamin had caused the fire but he complained in posts that the fire  had not been reported in the main media outlets. 

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Judge Nolan said Mr McMenamin seemed very anxious that the fact the building had been damaged should be made known.

After a request to remove the post of April 25, 2023 was not acted upon, Mr Casey issued High Court proceedings.

The judge said Mr McMenamin did not enter any appearance or take any steps to defend his position.  Service of the proceedings was evaded and an order was made to  allow service of the order by pinning a copy of the documents to the door or gate of Mr McMenamin’s property. 

Judge Nolan said he was satisfied that the people who were intended to reside at the “very fine accommodation” at Ludden were not unvetted, “but women and children fleeing from the appalling atrocities which Putin’s government imposed upon the people of Ukraine”. 

He said it was never Mr Casey’s intention to make a profit and his actions were not human trafficking but “a very genuine attempt” to try and relieve the pain and suffering of the women and children of Ukraine. 

The judge was satisfied that the remarks were untrue, defamatory and malicious and had clearly distressed Mr Casey. The remarks were very stressful, hurtful and upsetting and affected him and his family, including his daughter who had to be hospitalised, he added.

He said Mr McMenamin was asked to take down the posts but the “hurtful, damaging and defamatory remarks” were in place for over nine months after the court order, at least up until June of 2024.

The judge said this was a breach of a court order and a contempt of the court. He awarded Mr Casey damages of €120,000 and aggravation damages of €20,000.