A GROUP who are vehemently opposed to the building of a mosque in Tralee have been trying to drum up support in the town and county over the last few months.

PEGIDA, which stands for ‘Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West’, were formed in Germany in 2014.

The group has an Irish branch, members of which were handing out leaflets in the town centre on Saturday objecting to the building of a proposed mosque in Killerisk.

Speaking on Radio Kerry’s, Kerry Today programme this morning, a representative of PEGIDA Ireland, who just gave his name as ‘Paul’, outlined the group’s anti-Islamic stance and that they intend to register their own political party called ‘The Celtic Peoples Party of Ireland’.

“Islam is taking over, all over the world,” said Paul. “No matter where they go, their first thing to do is to get a prayer house, their second is to get a mosque and after they get the mosque, their third thing is to build a mosque that’s bigger than any church in the area. Once they build these mosques, Muslims flock in,” he told host Jerry O’Sullivan.

“When they become the dominant religion [in an area] they impose their own laws on people. This has happened in France where there are Muslim-only areas and this has happened in England as well where Sharia law is enforced. They even have their own police force walking the streets making sure people adhere to their rules,” said Paul.

When the presenter asked how many members the group had in Kerry, Paul declined to say.

“We have a quite a large membership and we want to keep it secret for now before we get bigger,” he answered.

Paul said that they are to register ‘The Celtic Peoples Party of Ireland’ as a political entity and will run candidates in local and general elections, but he did not confirm if a candidate would be put forward in Kerry.

Along with an anti-immigration platform, ‘The Celtic Peoples Party of Ireland’ policies, listed on their website, include; the abolition of water charges, road tolls, property tax, the reintroduction of the Irish pound (alongside the Euro), a ban on pornography and a ban on the promotion of homosexuality.

Video of Pegida Ireland supporter handing out flyers in the town centre…