Rap group Kneecap has been granted leave by High Court judge Cian Ferriter to serve defamation proceedings outside the Irish jurisdiction on Canadian MP Vince Gasparro.

Barrister Mark Harty SC told the court on Friday that group members Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin and James John Ó Dochartaigh were suing Gasparro in relation to alleged published statements that Kneecap were supporters of terrorists and were anti-Jewish.

He said Gasparro was a leading supporter of a parliamentary move to bar the group from entering Canada on the basis they “glorified terrorist organisations”.

Ferriter granted the group’s legal team, led by Harty and Phoenix Law, leave to serve a defamation summons, and notice of the summons, on Gasparro. The Canadian politician was granted 42 days to enter an appearance.

The musicians were also granted an interim injunction temporarily restraining Gasparro from further publishing his alleged defamatory statements within the legal jurisdiction of Ireland. The three Kneecap members are Irish citizens.

Darragh Mackin, a solicitor with Belfast-based law company Phoenix Law, stated in written evidence to the court that Gasparro’s alleged defamatory statements had been viewed more than four million times and shared or reposted on X in excess of 1,800 times.

Harty told the judge that the alleged defamatory remarks had been republished in Ireland by several news outlets under headlines stating Kneecap had been barred from Canada. In the alleged remarks, the band was accused of displaying hate symbols targeting the Jewish community, of glorifying and supporting terrorist organisations, and of amplifying political violence.

Gasparro, in his role as parliamentary secretary of state combatting crime in Canada, had allegedly published material in the Canadian House of Commons and on X stating his intention to bar Kneecap from entering Canada where they planned to tour.

The judge heard it had since been confirmed publicly that neither the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada nor the Canada Border Services Agency had been involved in, consulted upon, or had given advice in relation to Gasparro’s statements.

Harty said the office of Canadian prime minister Mark Carney had denied any role in a travel ban announced in September by Gasparro against Kneecap.

He told the court none of the Kneecap musicians had in fact been legally banned from Canada. He added that according to Gasparro’s alleged words, the musicians were violent, anti-Semitic, encouraged and incited political violence, supported terrorists and glorified terrorism, and engaged in a campaign of hatred.

Harty said Gasparro’s alleged words meant and were understood to mean that each member of the group engaged in conduct so dangerous and contrary to law that the Canadian government deemed them ineligible to enter that country.

“I say that these meanings constitute grave allegations of guilt of the most serious kind and are defamatory,” he told the court.

The judge said he was satisfied by Harty’s legal submissions that the members of the Kneecap group were entitled to serve the summonses outside of the Irish jurisdiction.

The orders were granted ex parte (in the absence of Gasparro or any legal representative on his part).