One of the self-styled leaders of the fuel blockades threatened to ‘drag’ Tánaiste Simon Harris out of agricultural shows and warned the Fine Gael leader will need the ‘riot squad to protect him’.

In an expletive-ridden tirade captured on video, agricultural contractor James Geoghegan also called the Tánaiste and fellow government leaders ‘dirty k***kers’ and ‘b***ards’ after claiming Mr Harris ‘personally’ insulted him.

Mr Geoghegan emerged as one of the leaders of the protests that almost ground the country to a halt last week and was interviewed on RTÉ’s Prime Time.

It has emerged the Westmeath contractor has had six judgments for a total of almost €550,000 secured against him by the Revenue Commissioners as well as animal cruelty convictions.

Last weekend, Mr Geoghegan refused to say if he had a tax clearance certificate when interviewed by the Irish Mail on Sunday.

We also revealed last week how the contractor has labelled climate change ‘a hoax’ and posted misinformation about the Government ‘bussing’ asylum seekers in to vote.

Now, a video has emerged of the protest representative making verbal threats to physically eject the Tánaiste from agricultural shows.

In a three-way call, Mr Geoghegan said of the Fine Gael leader – who has received several chilling death threats this year: ‘You will not see Simon Harris at an agricultural show this year. If he is, he’ll want to bring the f***ing riot squad to protect him.

‘He’ll be dragged out the f***ing gate, and I’ll drag him out any of [sic] any show I see him in because, by Jesus, what he’s after doing and insulting us and insulting me personally this week, the dirty k***kers, b***ards… that’s all they are.’

In a reference to media reports about Revenue judgements against him, he said in his videocall rants he will be ‘making millions from defamation… I don’t give a f***’.

Mr Geoghegan – who was convicted of animal cruelty charges in 2006 after between 60 and 65 animals died on his farm – goes on to state: ‘I’d have every deer in the f***ing park shot up there [Dublin] for something to do. I’d be living on venison if I was living up there.’

Mr Geoghegan’s abusive comments come as a Garda crackdown is under way following acts of intimidation against officers, Defence Forces personnel, politicians and transport workers during last week’s fuel blockades.

All officers received an email from An Garda Síochána’s HQ stating an incident room, under the command of a senior officer, has been set up in each of the four Garda regions across the country.

On Monday, Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said criminal investigations had been launched to examine social media posts that issued threats against gardaí and their families.

The force is gathering evidence of so-called doxxing, where the personal details of a targeted person, such as their address and family details, are released online.

A source this weekend revealed one respected Garda inspector who was doxxed online has ‘spent the last week trying to remove any digital footprint that connects him with his family’.

Other online attacks have focused on identified female gardaí. The posts have included claims about their health history and their personal relationships. In other posts, photos of gardaí have been published and misidentified.

A security source told the MoS: ‘It seems to have become socially acceptable to seek out and intimidate [people] online because there are no serious repercussions.

‘You only have to look at lenient sentences handed down recently to those targeting public figures with threats.’

Another source said that – ‘at a minimum’ – gardaí should be ‘proactively monitoring’ social media disinformation and threats. Detectives are currently sifting through hours of bodycam footage filmed by gardaí who were on the frontline of last week’s protests.

The MoS has also learned gardaí are investigating accounts which used the controversial X AI tool Grok in an attempt to identify gardaí who policed the protests.

A source said: ‘Last week, we saw agitators post AI generated supposed operational order issued to gardaí. I’ve seen them all week online feeding screen shots of gardaí that were sent out to police the protests into Grok in an attempt to identify them to target them. It’s crazy stuff.’

Another security source described the level of hate and misinformation being spread online as a ‘plague’.

Describing how some extremists are using technology to spread false narratives online, they added: ‘There was even some very crude attempts using AI to put protesters into Garda uniforms. These protesters had been caught on camera acting aggressively or being violent and were digitally put in uniform.

‘It was then said they had been spotted at previous protests, and they must have been planted by the Government.

‘If you do a reverse-search of these images, you’ll see loads of social media accounts sharing it and the majority of the commentary is completely negative towards AGS [An Garda Síochána], even when it’s clearly AI.’

Commissioner Kelly told gardaí this week he ‘completely’ understood the ‘really difficult situations many of you have been faced with’.

‘Thanks to your efforts we have broken the illegal blockades which were interfering with access to our critical national infrastructure. This has meant that our emergency services, hospital and fuel supply network were able to continue to operate,’ he told officers.

‘I am concerned to hear about attempts in person and online to threaten and intimidate gardaí who are engaged in their lawful work. I have viewed some of this online material myself and have been absolutely appalled by it.

‘This will not be tolerated and will be fully investigated with the aim of bringing those involved to justice,’ he added.

Ronan Slevin, the General Secretary of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) representing rank-and-file officer, also hit out at the threats.

He said: ‘We are extremely concerned by these vile threats against members and the attempts by certain individuals to intimidate our colleagues online by disclosing private information and circulating falsified material in a manner that is not only distasteful and offensive but are criminal acts.’

Mr Slevin said the GRA recognises the right to peaceful protest but warned the demonstrations were ‘infiltrated and taken advantage of by certain far right or criminal elements.’

He added: ‘They should never be allowed to prevail.’

Contacted by the MoS, Mr Geoghegan claimed he made the comments about the Tánaiste after learning that a fellow protestor had taken his own life.

He said: ‘Simon Harris has blood on his hands, Micheál Martin has blood on his hands. The way Simon Harris talked down to the people of Ireland this week was disgusting... he’s not welcome in rural Ireland anymore and it’s as simple as that.’

The contractor added that, if Mr Harris attends agricultural shows this year ‘men are going to lose the heads at him’.

He said: ‘It’s shocking what has happened and it’s his fault and it’s Martin’s fault for the disrespect they’ve shown the people.

‘Harris is not welcome in rural Ireland again, and I won’t be at agricultural shows and I personally won’t drag him anywhere.

‘But if he goes in, there is men there who are going to lose the heads on him because of what has happened and that’s reality,’ the protest leader added

And he warned: ‘This is not over. I am personally not going to drag Harris out of it, but that’s the feeling among the people. Don’t be trying to make me out to be the bad guy here.

‘The country is crashing and the Government can’t see it. The building boom is over. The crash that’s coming is going to be huge. The Government are responsible.’