Tommy Robinson poses for pictures with notorious Dublin heroin dealer

‘Harpo’ O’Driscoll is a brother of notorious west Dublin gang boss ‘Dee Dee’ O’Driscoll and a convicted heroin dealer in his own right.

He has been heavily involved in organised crime in Ballyfermot for nearly three decades

He was jailed for six years in 2000 for heroin trafficking after he was seen digging up more than €200,000 worth of heroin from under a railway sleeper.

This photograph showing Robinson posing with a notorious criminal is set to cause further division in the anti-migration movement.

The arrival of convicted criminal Robinson (real name Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon) has also caused major problems for the different groups in the city.

In a letter seen by the Sunday World, a group calling itself ‘the Dublin Protest Committee’ yesterday said it would not involve itself in a planned counter-protest to the ‘Ireland4All’ march – as it believed the organisers were past and present members of anti-Islamic group set up in Ireland by Robinson.

The group also said it felt Robinson ‘had a hand in organising this counter protest’ and that it was ‘not an Irish-led protest for Irish reasons.’

The counter-protest, ultimately, did not go ahead.

Yesterday, tens of thousands of people marched through Dublin city as part of the ‘Ireland4All’ demo – dwarfing the numbers seen at the anti-asylum seeker rallies.

The march set off from Parnell Square around lunchtime towards the Custom House, where musicians, including Christy Moore, performed in a show of solidarity with the movement.

Speaking at the protest, Christy Moore said: “We are stronger when we stand together”.

“My primary purpose is to express revulsion for the hatred and violence being fomented by a small minority who daily attack those unfortunate people who have come here seeking sanctuary from war, hunger, poverty and oppression.”

Earlier this week, Robinson arrived in Ireland in a bid to capitalise on the recent anti-migration protests that have been springing up across the country.

Robinson was leader and co-founder of the English Defence League –- a far-right street protest movement targeting Muslims in the UK.

He has also has been convicted in the UK of fraud, stalking, assault, using someone else’s passport, using threatening behaviour, and contempt of court.

Robinson claims he is not here to ‘take over’ the protests but is making a documentary about anti-immigration protests taking place around Ireland.

He has also attempted to whip up anti-Irish media sentiment among the anti-immigration movement.

In a video seen by this newspaper, he asked followers: “Are you chasing out the media that come to report on your demonstrations? …

“Are they allowed to come to your demonstrations and report on them? Are they? Because they’re there to do hatchet jobs on you, nothing else …”

The arrival of Robinson – who previously wore a badge supporting an ex-British soldier facing prosecution for two murders on Bloody Sunday – has also again underlined the involvement of serious criminal figures in the rise of the far-right here.

As well as his conviction for heroin dealing, ‘Harpo’ O’Driscoll has also been jailed for violent offences.

In 2008, Harpo was again jailed, this time for six-and-a-half years for a “litany of offences”, including drug dealing, attempted burglary, unlawful carriage, property damage, and seriously assaulting a man with three others including his brother Derek.

Gardaí had observed O’Driscoll and the others kicking and punching Mr Eddie Brennan outside the James Inn Pub on March 16, 2005.

Gardaí surrounded the occupants and rescued Brennan before a search of the jeep yielded cable ties, a hockey stick, a bamboo stick with brass ends, a baseball bat, a rod and sticks.

On another occasion O’Driscoll tried to stab a garda in the neck with a sharp “ice-pick type weapon” when he was caught interfering with a motorbike.

​ Another convicted drug dealer to have welcomed Robinson’s arrival is Scott Delaney Knight – the son of ‘Cotton Eye’ Joe Delaney, who previously posted a video objecting to the Sunday Worldlabelling him ‘far right’

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