An Independent election candidate in Kerry has said she was “shocked” to receive a phone call from Gardaí who asked her to come for an interview in relation to comments she had made online.
Michelle Keane told Gript she received a phone call yesterday evening from Sergeant Melanie Walsh at Listowel Garda Station to inform her that “people are taking offence” to comments she had made in relation to “foreign nationals coming into the country”.
Listowel Garda Station! pic.twitter.com/Tm0TgGMO8q
— Michelle Keane (@designmibeau) April 18, 2024
Describing the call as “pure harassment” Keane said “I’m entitled to my opinion”, adding that she has no problem calling “undocumented asylum seekers scumbags.”
“I make no apologies for it,” she said, expressing concern for the safety of women and girls due to thousands of undocumented individuals entering the country over the last number of years, with at least 13,521 arriving since 2018 with no documentation.
Keane said she asked if someone had made a complaint about her comments but that this information was not forthcoming and that she was told that no statements had been made against her.
Gript contacted An Garda Síochána to enquire if a criminal complaint had been launched in respect of Keane and if so what law it had been made under. We were told that the Gardaí are unable to comment on individual cases.
Keane said that during the course of the call she was asked “approximately five times” to visit the garda station.
She added that it is her belief that there is a “smear campaign” in operation against her efforts to run as a candidate in the upcoming local elections.
“I’m out for the good of our country” she said adding that she had become impassioned by the “destruction” that she says the “cobbled together” government has caused to Ireland.
“We’re the ones that are suffering,” she said, adding that it was her belief that the government and judicial system was now favouring the interests of “criminals” over the Irish people.
Keane said that she is “not racist” and has “no problem” helping those who are in need of help but that weekly IPAS numbers have shown that ‘large numbers of people are coming to Ireland seeking asylum from safe countries such as Nigeria’.
“If you arrived into a country with no passport you’d be put on the next flight home,” she said.
Keane says that she has huge support online and that her views are representative of the views of “90% of the Irish people”.
She called on the people to “put pressure” on TDs and Senators to reject the EU Migration Pact saying,
“We all know Fine Gael and simple Simon will try to push Ireland to opt in,”.
“The Irish people need to wake up now and realise what’s happening,” she said.
“I want Ireland to be great again,” she said, adding that “we’ve a great country but we’re going to lose it the way we’re going.”
Speaking of her experiences canvassing in the Castleisland constituency of north Kerry, she said that stories she hears on the door include people struggling to put petrol in their cars, to feed their children, and to heat their homes, ‘while the government foots the bill for non-nationals’.
“I’m listening at the door when I’m canvassing people and I’m hearing realities that would frighten and shock people if they knew what was happening in this country,”.
She said that there are people who are “forfeiting” their own meals in order to feed their children saying that “the cost of living has just gone through the roof and wages have not increased.”
“I’m disgusted when I see this homelessness crisis on our streets,” she said.
She said that people in Castleisland had contacted her saying that their landlords are threatening to increase rents despite contractual fixed payments.
“The landlords want to get them out and get the IPAS in.” she said.
Keane says she has taken legal advice in respect of the phone call she received and that she had made the offices of the Minister for Justice, GSOC, and the Superintendent in Listowel.
“I wrote my concerns and everything and that I was going public with this,” she said adding, “I’m a law abiding citizen and I’m entitled to my opinion.”
She said that she believes that if the proposed ‘hate speech’ bill was enacted at the moment that she would have been arrested and jailed over her comments “just for having an opinion”.
“If we can’t have an opinion we’ve lost our independence in this country,” she said.
The mother of two said her daughter was “very distressed” after hearing the conversation with the gardaí.
“If I wasn’t as strong as I am, I’d be made mice of,” she said, adding that her faith in God gives her strength. “I knew going for politics would be a bloodbath,” she said.
“I know that 90% of people that I’ve met and who follow me on Tiktok are approving of what I’m saying.”
“I’m just an ordinary mother and businesswoman,” she said adding, “if they want to arrest the likes of me what good am I going to be inside a jail cell for them?”
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There’s a little glimpse of what life will look like if they enact the hate speech or should I say if they decide to end free speech.
Another great example of Mna na hEieann in action.
We need Cumann na mBan back in action to counter the NGO scum.
Native Irish people are being treated as second class citizens in their own country. This is a direct consequence of government policy. All the so-called asylum seekers and scammers should be sent back to where they came from immediately. The Irish government are traitors to the people of Ireland and should be treated as such. They have consistently lied to the Irish people concerning the immigration situation and the effect it is having on local communities.
Thanks Fatima, know you would come up trumps. Taytos black n tans in full action in listowel. Please vote for this lady in listowel, a true woman of the people.
what a CLASS Lady. She’s brave. She’s right.
Fully support Fatima
Very Class, we need people like her in our councils and dail.
Same modus operandi as the cops on the other side of the Irish sea. Nothing they can arrest her for, but they still feel entitled to “have a word”.
It’s my firm belief, based on numerous examples, that it’s state policy to intimidate electoral candidates who adopt ‘right of center’ talking points. State sponsored harassment in other words. The ‘hate speech’ legislation is a way of formalizing, or giving legal backing to such state policy.
By the way, some of the examples I know of have never reached the media, whether mainstream or alternative.
Of course people who break the law can be described as “scumbags”. If the candidate had been posting about burglars who had broken into houses & she described them as scumbags for breaking & entering, would the Garda be trying to haul her down to the station for questioning. No not at all , this now begs the question as to why people who effectively break & enter into the county mustn’t be called scumbags!
The Garda in question is a disgrace to the badge & her oath , she has completely abused her position of power & I applaud the candidate for calling her out for the bully that she is . Like all bullies we must stand up to them & call them out every step of the way.
Well done to that Lady she caught the Gestapo in the act, I’ll guess it was the illegal imposters making the complaints, they can all go and f#ck off back to where they came from
I would suspect Sinn Fein.
Well they have lots of experience in informing.
The proposed Hate Speech Bill is a step change in Irish law. Even without it, it’s clear that some Gardaí will use it to challenge merely intemperate language.
The step change is in the reversal of the presumption of innocence, and the effective privatisation of prosecution to anonymous individuals (if the example of Scotland is to be heeded).
Nothing will harm the public reputation of the Gardaí more than this senseless, indiscriminate and divisive measure.
I think that she’ll do quiet well.
Those bullying creeps haven’t heard of the Streisand effect it seems.
Simon Dracula and Helen orangeteabags driving a wedge in the heart of Irish culture and identify, people who would never b upset are now very upset,I am upset everybody I see or heard is upset with Ireland been flooded with Indians Africans muslins east European’s, all getting or will get our House’s education money transport health and medicine free , while Sean Meehan is been booted out of his house, young burke teacher from mayo been jailed for his Christian beliefs which was drilled in to us in national school,in Easter 1916 brave Irish women and men said enuff is enuff of been slaves to the British and here we are again been made second class citizens in our own country. Where Are Irish HEROES 💚💚💚
Taste of things to come if they can get away with that one.
Anyone that gains any traction in what the Irish people want seems to be singled out and an attempt to silence.
Wow, having genuine concerns about undoc’d males in the area is now considered borderline crime.
Irexit Now – it’s the only way – feck em and their opt in/opt out – which they’re going to opt in anyway and bypass our wishes.
Well done Michelle – Stand Your Ground!!
Frank, don’t say, they’re going to opt in anyway. We will fight it. The fight is not gone out of me anyway. I want to join others to fight it tooth and nail. Give us the leadership please.
Mary with respect, I’m just as furious about this as anybody else.As you know the Lisbon clause was passed on the grounds on this very issue and as you know now, she’s brazenly ignoring the people’s right (same one was probably an infant at the time and her brain didn’t develop that much to adulthood) – that was and is the deal. If they’re not keeping to the deal,then the deal is off. Fight? With what? With who? – again with respect, I don’t see any Calvary coming – very few are challenging this in the Dáil/elsewhere.- even legally & frustratingly not coming up with anything fast.
What I’m simply advocating,is what I’ve stated on so many posts here,is that this Country since day one should’ve never got involved in that continent.A continent that spawned two of the most horrific wars that mankind ever witnessed & morphed into their little “project”.
The way things are going, they’ll kickstart a third one hence I’m advocating Irexit.
Is this ok Mary?
There’s a protest organized for the May bank holiday weekend starting at the garden of remembrance 2:30 the 6th
Contrast to the week day water charges protest
Just my opinion here Frank. Someone else mentioned recently to ‘Fight for the ground under your feet’…
I’m not a fan of what the EU has become. I do think the EEC was to our benefit. I’d favour the status that Denmark has in some respects and Norway, Switzerland and Andorra. And the stance that the likes of Hungary under Orban has taken against Brussels regarding immigration and asylum.
I believe you should engage in fighting the battles you can win. Would the Irish people vote to leave the EU? Now or in the short to medium term? I don’t believe so. I believe it would be easier to sell the idea that we should re-assert our sovereignty and authority over our own affairs and emphasise that FF/FG/SF/G are giving more and more away and we need to reverse that and re-establish our sovereignty and authority over our own Country. This is all my own opinion. I’m not a politics person so it’s just a hunch I have.
What I think we can fight for and win right now is to have a complete change to immigration policy and establishing an Irish First policy. I think it’d be an easier sell to replace certain politicians and for new parties to gain support than to win enough support to leave the EU. Britain leaving the EU made no difference – the Government there actually ramped up both legal and illegal immigration since they left. A complete betrayal as the British Government know full well that a vote for Brexit was also a vote to halt and reverse immigration.
With the right candidates stepping forward we could get them into power. There’s a big shake-up going on in the main parties currently. I believe we haven’t seen the last of Coveney and there’s a strong possibility he’ll return when he feels the mood is right and aim for Taoiseach. He’s been groomed for it for decades. Although I can find no record of it now, if I remember correctly, he travelled to Marrakech with Charlie Flanagan who signed us up to the Global Migration Pact a few years ago. Anyway, in his own words, Coveney is ‘liberal on migration’ and expects Ireland’s cities to double in size in the coming decades – he’s an Open Borders man.
Lastly, we are the Cavalry, Frank. ‘Fight for the ground under your feet’. You’ve got to have conversations with the people around you. You can calibrate what you have to say by sizing up where people stand on this and other issues. I won’t teach you how to suck eggs. I’m sure you know what I mean. Until we are ALL talking about it i.e. in person, at home, at the GAA or soccer club, outside the church or when you bump into someone for a chat, we won’t begin to have a groundswell. I think we’re moving that direction though and things may change VERY fast. There may be a trigger event. If the summer is very warm, and all these newcomers are wandering around towns and villages and something happens we may end up with a ‘paradigm shifting event’ i.e the conditioning people have been subject will no longer be effective, people will speak their minds.
Some of the posters on here who were cribbing about that fella who went into the café giving out about how the owner is profiting from the Plantation will be in for a rude awakening. Or, they’ll look back and laugh and think how mild that fella really was, or even say they always supported him. In comparison to what’s coming. Limp wristed people like Harris live in a bubble in Greystones or whatever part of Wicklow he’s from. They may be screeching ‘Far Right’ at all of us and at any opposition to them at the moment. But what are going to do? Have the Guards ring people to ‘come in for chat about something they said on Facebook’? Where I’m from, if that local Guards started at that, they’d be getting a right earful. They rely on the support of the local population.
Carry on dispatching the public Public Unit around the country to put down the Irish people? The Government are very lucky so far that the Unit hasn’t injured someone seriously or killed someone. Pushing over someone in their 60’s or older who may then go on to fall and hit their head and die is a real possibility.
One day, long into the future, the commenters on here who look down their noses at many of the protestors in Clondalkin and the like, will be proclaiming them as patriots and heroes.
By fighting, I mean protests. We must not stay quiet. There has been no national protest despite it being such a huge issue. Fear?
Class action ??
Gardaí have serious questions to answer here. We pay their wages to be impartial upholders of the law. I wonder who called the gardaí to inform them that ‘offence’ was taken.
Not too unlike a certain former minister having an academic journalist detained at dublin airport a number of years back for writing an article which criticised her. Personal police force of the minister on that occasion and they duly obliged when asked to breach the human and civil rights of the journalist on that day.
They are just to cosy with our government. Makes one feel quite uneasy.
This has all the hallmarks of a State initiated directive to the Crowns guardians to silence political opposition and decent
The weaponization by an obviously dying regime!
Sting of a dying bee?
Absolute disgrace. Thank you Michelle Keane for making this public. Gardai should explain exactly under what statute was Michelle being reprimanded. No law broken but, we want to warn you for using language we do not like even though it is perfectly legal and no complaint was logged. That Garda Sargeant should be reprimanded. She is going way, way beyond her legal right here. Recording should be sent to the local chief Superintendent & demand a reference to which statute has been breached. There was no official complaint recorded. No case to answer. Luckily, the hate speech legislation is stuck and hopefully will stay stuck.
They’re illegal immigrants.
Use the phrase ffs
This can be described as weaponizing the law, against a canvassing politician. This same tactic is being used in the USA on Donald Trump, a candidate for the presidency of that country and the former US President. I do hope Michelle Keane is successful in her quest for election as she certainly speaks for me
Not much democracy going on these days…..
(real) Mna na hEireann 1 Scumbags 0
WeTheRisenPeople are winning ☘☘☘☘☘👍
Awesome interview with dr martin here lads about the future under the current political parties, im sure you will be able to relate to ireland here. The man is a legend. https://www.bitchute.com/video/IwRCzYb42A8H/
Stay on topic ffs james will ya! This guy is a covid conspiracy theorist and general fruit cake. I thought i told you to stay off youtube!! 100lines please james! I must not be a half wit conspiracy theorist believer. Have them on my desk 9am tmrw.
Amazing how those who attempt to discredit an alternative view always resort to pejorative ad hominem attacks and never attempt to debunk the alternative view…………try harder son
Lol! Say’s the chap who calls the gardaí the ‘crown’s guardians’
It’s 2024 Des! Get into your delorian and come back to us🤓
How can the public have respect for the gardai when they are wasting time on these malicious public complaints but are too busy to properly investigate assaults on adults by feral teens? I partly blame our politicians but also the gardai leadership for allowing the force to be politicized.
Since when is offending someone a criminal offence? What next, causing someone anxiety?
Michelle Keane is to be commended and encouraged. She seems to be a very worthy and good candidate. We need more
people like her in public life.
If your opinion offends,
someone, Guarda wish to have a word with you?
No charges mind you. Just to remind you of being inconsiderate it seems.
But Mc Entee got a free pass using tge term “scumbag” albeit inadifferent context
No
I would find what she calls undocumented foreigners extremely offensive as we are all brothers and sisters and children of the one God. We need to have respect for everyone irrespective of their circumstances
I agree and that may be the case, however the usurpation of this world by the forces of evil have slightly change the real politik, those being imported en masse are from cultures not compatible with western cultures which creates conflict, human beings are in the main tribal, conflict ensues. The failings and social degredation of the multicultural experiment are not experienced in homogenous nations. Hungary case in point, Ireland needs to decide whether it wants a society in chaos or one that is in the main harmonious and peaceful.
At the risk of getting banned, like the last time I replied to you, I won’t accuse you of trolling.
What I will do is put these words here for everyone to re-read and make up their own minds as to whether they are in any way offensive, mildly or extremely while I add my own interpretation.
Undocumented – meaning, without documents, ID, passport, travel visas/tickets/documentation or other means of personal identification.
Foreigners – people not native or from the country they are in e.g. like an Irish person visiting or residing in Spain or anywhere else
Asylum Seekers – people (foreigners) seeking refuge or asylum from war or persecution/risk to life
Undocumented Foreigners arriving in Ireland – people not from Ireland travelling from countries like Nigeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Albania.
So, we’ve had people travelling though, sometimes dozens of countries, up-to and over distances of 5,000+ miles, to arrive in Ireland and all of a sudden, they’ve ‘lost’ their ID, passport, travel tickets etc. We are all aware of scammers that have been granted asylum from many of the countries these people are arriving from, and then promptly going back to their country of origin on holidays.
So, we’re getting these people who are abusing our kindness and generosity, exploiting us and our laws, showing complete disrespect and contempt for us, our nation, our country. They are behaving dishonestly and operating by deception. They do not deserve respect.
Calling them scumbags is putting it mildly. In my opinion.