Fascist Event Planned For Mayflower Community Hall, Drumshanbo.

Tickets have recently gone on sale for the ‘MiseÉire Festival’ planned for the 23rd of August in the well known and respected Mayflower Community Hall in Drumshanbo Co. Leitrim. The ‘Festival’ is in fact a lightly disguised far right rally in the main hall with music in a side area which is advertised as having a full bar available. The organiser is Stephen Kerr from Mayo who runs a well known far right disinformation outlet called The Irish Inquiry alongside his partner Suzanne Delaney. The headline speaker at the event is John Waters. Other planned speakers include Thomas Sheridan, Kerr’s partner Susanne Delaney, and Kevin Flanagan. All are active participants in Ireland’s burgeoning fascist movement. UPDATE: As we write (24/7/25) it appears that the far right have just cancelled a ‘national rally’ that was planned for Cork on the same day as the planned Drumshanbo event to facilitate ‘everyone’ on the scene so they ‘can attend’ Kerr’s event. See the bottom of this document for details.

                                     Stephen Kerr with Ferg Power and Phil Dwyer

The link between this event and the unlikely venue of Drumshanbo is down to one person - Sean Wynne - who acted as John Waters’ campaign director in the 2024 European elections. Wynne also happens to be the chairperson of the committee that runs The Mayflower. He is also involved in the running of the Lough Allen Adventure Centre which is being advertised as providing accommodation for the event. The event page on TicketTailor states: ‘For those planning to stay, the Allen Centre, just a 5 minute walk from the festival, offers limited camping with tent and caravan pitches, electric hookups, showers, toilets, a shared kitchen, and BBQ areas. Early bird rates (€25/night) are available—contact Sean at 0876312708 to book’.

A number of local people have been aware of the event for the last two weeks and made their objections and concerns known to the Mayflower Committee in that time. As a result of communication with a variety of interested parties it has become clear that Sean Wynne in essence pulled a fast one on the Mayflower committee by facilitating a booking, without any discussion or communication with the committee, for what he described as a ‘music festival’.

A meeting of the Committee was held to review the situation late last week and, despite a number of Committee members having concerns about and objections to the event, they agreed to allow the event to proceed. It appears that three things were at play in the meeting besides one letter of objection to the event being read out. One was a threat from Wynne to step down from the board of directors of the Mayflower if the booking was to be cancelled. The second was discussion of ‘legal advice’ that indicated the Mayflower would be vulnerable to legal action if the booking was not honoured and the third was an entirely deceptive statement about the nature of the proposed event from Stephen Kerr. In the opinion of objectors to the event Wynne should have been shown the door. He booked the event under false pretences and in such a way as to deliberately route around the Committee and present them with a fait accompli. He did this to facilitate a group of fascist and far right agitators and that in itself is disgraceful.

With regard to legal threats - the event again was basically booked under false pretences by Sean Wynne. Other venues who have cancelled similar events in similar circumstances have suffered no legal consequences in this country to date despite many similar events being cancelled in the last five years when venue owners became aware of the true nature of the proposed events. Wynne also appears - through the accommodation arrangements - to be in a position to profit financially from this subterfuge. In this situation we call on Committee members to take a public position on this issue. Either demand that the event be cancelled and Wynne step down or step down themselves.

Wynne it should be noted has appeared on the live streams of notorious Donegal based fascist Niall McConnell who has historically involved himself with UK and Northern Irish Loyalist fascist elements including Nick Griffin (BNP) and Jim Dowson - an anti abortion militant with a background in the Orange Order,  BNP and the ‘Protestant Coalition’.

Stephen Kerr, who Wynne is quite obviously working with on this event, is a very well known fascist agitator and works with many of the most high profile agitators in this country including notably Phil Dwyer who was recently convicted of trespassing at a direct provision centre for International Protection (IP) applicants at Inch in Co Clare where residents were besieged by protesters outside the property,  and Mike Connell who has admitted publicly that he is under observation by the Special Detective Unit as a result of the threatening and extreme nature of his rhetoric aimed at senior politicians.  

Kerr’s propaganda outlet The Irish Inquiry has been described by TheJournal.ie as a ‘self-described news company that regularly spreads misinformation about immigrants, the environment and vaccines’. The ‘outlet’ was also featured in a case study featured in an Irish Examiner article titled ‘Far-right propaganda in Ireland Weaponises Legitimate Social Issues’. Stephen Kerr remains under Garda investigation arising out of the targeting and harassment of a female journalist in July 2024. He was also involved in a ‘harassment’ incident involving a visually impaired politician in 2022 which was covered by the national media.

His partner Suzanne Delaney has run for both local and national elections in Dublin. She gained profile through a series of appearances at anti-immigration rallies in Dublin city. She relentlessly distributes racist and islamophobic propaganda in the guise of a ‘concerned mother’. In recent weeks she and Kerr worked alongside a loose grouping of far right individuals to disrupt and protest Eid celebrations held in Croke Park. Niall McConnell - mentioned above - was also involved in these protests.

John Waters has become notorious in recent years due to his openly expressed anti LGBTQ views and for his involvement as co-editor and lead writer for the ‘Irish Light’ publication alongside fascist anti-semite and islamophobe Gemma O’Doherty. His campaign team for the European Election in 2024 included fascist David Larkin who had at that point already been convicted for threatening and harassing two politicians - Mary Butler (FF) and Michael Carrigy (FG).

                             John Waters and David Larkin

In a 2024 Irish Times article it was stated with regard to The Irish Light that ‘All the old, vile libels are there. The Jews bring “child sacrifice [modern day abortion], money-lending, debt slavery, sexual depravity, and a culture of death”. The Holocaust is “at last being exposed for the lie that it is”. The Nazi concentration camps were merely “work factories”. Immigration into western countries is a sinister conspiracy run by the Jews’. The article specified that  ‘Its associate editor and leading writer is former The Irish Times columnist John Waters’. He and Gemma O’Doherty have been the subjects of a Garda investigation arising out of the publication potentially breaching The Incitement to Hatred Act. It is not known if this investigation is still an active one.

Waters is openly and conspiratorially homophobic describing the LGBTQ community as ‘goons’ and portraying them as ‘a front for a proxy war against Western civilisation, conducted on behalf of the richest and most powerful interests in the world’. He sees this war as being conducted by ‘cultural marxists’ echoing the anti-semetic ‘theories’ of US fascist cult leader Lyndon LaRouche. Finally he subscribes to ‘the great replacement’ theory - seeing immigration and the asylum system as part of a plot to ‘replace’ the Irish people. He is in essence a fascist pseudo-intellectual feeding off the movement now regularly seen on streets countrywide chanting ‘Allah Allah who the fxxk is Allah’ and ‘Get them out’.

At this point the event is being promoted by a series of high profile far right agitators including Anthony Casey, Ferg Power, Jana Lunden, Ger Delaney, Leon Bradley and Eoin Sheridan. Ant6hony Casey is leader of the ‘Sinne na Daoine’ vigilante group. Ferg Power is one of those named in the Dail as being responsible for inciting the Dublin riots. He was reported on prominently in the media in 2024 for spreading false claims with regard to asylum seekers in Celbridge - leading to a protest where Gardai were verbally abused while also being targeted with fireworks and other missiles. 

Jana Lunden organised the notorious library protests which have led to several fascists facing criminal charges for assault. President Higgins at the time said those who intimidate library staff and tear up books ‘hide behind the mask of ‘protester’, but must be called out for what they are: vigilantes attempting to censor, some of whom are committing criminal offences’. Ger Delaney is a nazi who is a high profile supporter of and publicist for Justin Barrett’s explicitly nazi militia Clann Eireann. Members of this grouping were observed and filmed giving fascist salutes in Sligo at a recent anti-immigration rally.  Leon Bradley is a key Dublin fascist agitator. He ran in recent elections on an anti-immigration platform with support from his brother, notorious gangland criminal Alan ‘Flatpuss’ Bradley. Eoin Lenihan is known primarily for generating a list of ‘antifa journalists’ in the US. His spurious list led to a number of journalists being placed on a ‘kill list’ by proscribed terrorist group ‘Atomwaffen’.

Finally it is important to note that The Mayflower, relatively recently, received approximately E300,000 from the Department of Rural and Community Development’s ‘Community Recognition Fund’ which ironically in this context funds communities in recognition of their contribution to welcoming and hosting significant numbers of refugees from Ukraine and asylum seekers from other countries. We ask that those concerned at this development make their views known to the Mayflower board of directors directly or through this email address: mayflowercommunitycentre@gmail.com

For further information and to get involved in campaigning against this event going ahead in The Mayflower please contact the ‘Leitrim and Roscommon against Fascism’ page on Facebook.

As we write (24/7/25) it appears that the far right have just cancelled a ‘national rally’ that was planned for Cork on the same day as the planned Drumshanbo event. Every half baked vigilante wannabe in the country will now be making their summer plan for Drumshanbo instead. This is a screenshot from Anita Ward who is an Ireland First organiser.