Gemma O'Doherty fined for breaching Covid rules by taking part in Cork protest

Campaigner was travelling to Cork to take part in a demonstration claiming that the virus was a hoax

Gemma O Doherty at the Four Courts in Dublin in 2021. Picture: Collins Courts

Campaigner Gemma O’Doherty was fined €750 on Wednesday for breaching Covid regulations by travelling from her home in Dublin to take part in a demonstration in Cork in which it was claimed that the Covid pandemic was a hoax to control people and that RTÉ were spreading government lies.

The 54-year-old did not attend Cork District Court for the case which was listed for hearing and there was no legal representation.

Judge Marian O’Leary heard the case in her absence and at the end of the prosecution evidence, convicted and fined her.

Sergeant Tim McAuliffe testified that on December 12, 2020, a protest took place on Grand Parade, Cork, where speakers encouraged people to stop wearing masks.

“I observed Gemma O’Doherty of Shankill, Dublin, making an address to the crowd. She was saying Covid was a hoax to control people and that RTÉ were spreading lies on behalf of the government,” the sergeant said.

An anti-mask protest in Cork City in 2020. Picture: Damian Coleman

He said the protest moved to a location outside the offices of RTÉ in Cork and then to the constituency office of Taoiseach Micheál Martin before returning to Grand Parade.

Sgt McAuliffe said at Cork District Court: “I explained to her that under statutory instrument I was asking had she a reasonable excuse for being there and that if she did not, she should leave the county of Cork.

“She took out her phone and recorded me. She did not engage with me.

"She said I did not know the Constitution, I did not know my law, I did not know my oath. She was here on essential journalistic duties."

The sergeant said it was his view that she was not operating as a journalist but was there as a leader of a demonstration claiming that the pandemic was not in fact real.

Footage posted online

Sgt McAuliffe said the footage recorded by Gemma O’Doherty was later posted online. Inspector Anne Marie Guiney who prosecuted the case asked Judge Marian O’Leary if she wished to see this footage. The judge said she did.

In the video, a female voice is heard telling the sergeant he did not know the law and that she was performing journalistic duties and that even if she was not, she had a Constitutional right to “travel my country".

The speaker on the recording went on the say: “They are worried. They are really really worried. They are desperate… They are trying to criminalise me. They are covering up their paedophile…” And that was where recording played in court ended.

Garda Stephen Dennehy handed in photographs to the court showing the defendant addressing the demonstration.

Inspector Guiney submitted at the end of the prosecution evidence that the defendant said to gardaí she was present for essential journalistic services. The inspector said this was not covered by the legislation.

And if she was, she was not reporting independently, she was actively taking part.

Judge O’Leary said: “She did travel from her county of residence without reasonable excuse contrary the Health Act as amended. I find her guilty.”

The judge asked if there were previous convictions. Insp Guiney said there was a conviction from Wicklow for engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour on August 28, 2020, for which she was given a two-month suspended sentence, together with a €750 fine for refusing to give her name and a charge of obstructing a peace officer was taken into consideration.

In the present case at Cork District Court Judge O’Leary fined Gemma O’Doherty €750 for the breach of Covid regulations in operation at the time.