{"id":46973,"date":"2025-09-06T08:42:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T08:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/46973\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T08:42:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T08:42:09","slug":"in-the-space-of-an-hour-five-people-called-me-a-ct-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/46973\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018In the space of an hour five people called me a c**t\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

After T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris and his family were threatened online last weekend<\/a> garda\u00ed quickly identified a Dublin woman in her 30s as the chief suspect. <\/p>\n

The woman was arrested on Tuesday and then released without charge<\/a> pending further investigations.<\/p>\n

Ironically, although the woman is alleged to have threatened to kidnap Mr Harris\u2019s children, she had previously used a TikTok to round on a foreign man accused of kidnapping children in Dublin, branding him \u201cscum\u201d. <\/p>\n

This is not the first time Harris has been targeted.<\/p>\n

There have been protests, some by masked people, outside his home, as well at the homes of then taoiseach Leo Varadkar, former minister for children Roderic O\u2019Gorman and former minister for health Stephen Donnelly. Harris and minister for education Helen McEntee last year both received bomb threats at their family homes.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018I have young children, I have a wife\u2019: Taoiseach says bomb hoax at his home intended to \u2018intimidate and upset\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Green Party councillor Janet Horner<\/a> and Independent councillor Tania Doyle<\/a> were assaulted, while canvassing, in separate incidents on the same day in May 2024. The attacks were linked to the far right.<\/p>\n

\"InjuriesInjuries Cllr Tania Doyle sustained in an attack in Blanchardstown <\/p>\n

Minister for State Michael Healy-Rae, the Independent TD from Kerry, needed to be escorted by two garda\u00ed down Kildare Street in Dublin as he was pursued during a protest in September 2023, outside Leinster House; his assistant\u2019s phone was stolen. <\/p>\n

On the same day mock gallows were erected close to the gates of Leinster House, with photographs of high-profile politicians from Sinn F\u00e9in, Fine Gael, People Before Profit\u2013Solidarity and Fianna F\u00e1il. There were 13 arrests made at the event, attended by the far right and other anti-establishment agitators <\/p>\n

This week, Coimisi\u00fan na Me\u00e1n, the broadcasting and online media regulator, released a report<\/a> setting out how often extreme online abuse was directed at more than half the candidates in last year\u2019s elections.<\/p>\n

Beyond the high-profile and well-documented incidents \u2013 and the abuse recorded in the latest research, politicians who spoke to The Irish Times this week told of their personal experiences of the abuse and online threats they have received. <\/p>\n

The politicians reveal how they were accosted and assaulted on the streets. Some of those who told their stories are current or former ministers, but have spoken on condition of anonymity. Mr Harris is not among the people interviewed.<\/p>\n

One says he was driving last year, and stopped in traffic, when a man who \u201clooked normal and reasonable\u201d tapped on his car window. When he opened it, the man threatened to \u201cshoot me in the head\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you speak publicly there is the risk you come across as weak and someone looking for victimhood,\u201d says another politician. <\/p>\n

Another says an \u201carmy\u201d of abusive people has made nuisance and threatening calls to their mobile for a long period. The issue is now \u201cso bad\u201d they have given permission to garda\u00ed to monitor \u2013 or \u201ctap\u201d \u2013 their phone in a bid to trace the callers.<\/p>\n

Another says the \u201cvitriol\u201d they have been repeatedly targeted with by people who have approached him on the street has been shocking.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw a case recently of a guard being stabbed<\/a> on the street [in Dublin] and, I\u2019m telling you, we\u2019re one inch away from that happening to a politician.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0The Irish Times view on online threats to politicians: an existential danger to democracyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

One of the politicians says on the days they are in Leinster House, it is no longer possible to go for a walk through the city centre as they once did. Garda\u00ed have also asked they not to go for such walks. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be out of the question now anyway. Some of these people spot you, they take out the phone and follow you and they are just looking for that reaction from you. These people are calling you scum, a bollocks, a traitor.\u201d<\/p>\n

But who exactly are \u201cthese people\u201d? <\/p>\n

The politicians said that although immigration<\/a> is the main issue they are tackled on, often in a threatening manner, their targeting is motivated by subjects ranging from Israel, gender, sexuality and the housing crisis<\/a> to farming, climate change, vaccines and abortion.<\/p>\n

\"ImmigrationImmigration is the main issue politicians are tackled on. Photograph: Colin Keegan\/Collins <\/p>\n

One of the politicians says that although he finds the abuse, which has been in-person, by phone and via social media, very negative and annoying, he is not in fear.<\/p>\n

However, his family is fearful and, as a result, he has undertaken significant security measures at his home, such as installing an extensive lighting system and security cameras outside the property.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe even have alarm buttons on the doors now … all because of politics,\u201d he says. \u201cYears ago there was nothing like this; this is completely alien to me. I never thought this is what politics would be.\u201d <\/p>\n

Another politician says they have fencing and electric gates erected at their home. At one point they moved their children and partner out of their home for a brief time out of fear they may be targeted as part of a specific campaign against them.<\/p>\n

\n

One politician was out with his wife in a restaurant when a man came over and \u201cscreamed\u201d abuse in his face<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

One says that, as his profile grew, \u201cit got pretty nasty very quickly\u201d. <\/p>\n

This is partly due to social media, which is now fully \u201cweaponised\u201d, including the use of \u201cbots\u201d and the suspected involvement of bad actors from Russia and elements of US society. <\/p>\n

However, he also believes some media outlets are \u201ccompletely skewed to the negative\u201d. This has \u201csadly convinced people growing up here that it\u2019s a shit country\u201d, with \u201ccorrupt\u201d politicians largely to blame.<\/p>\n

When students come into the D\u00e1il for internships, he often asks them where they believe Ireland places in the Human Development Index, which ranks 200 nations using health, education, wealth and life expectancy as key metrics.<\/p>\n

Down the years \u201cnot a single one\u201d has ever ranked Ireland in the top 50. This is despite Ireland having been as high as equal second in the index. <\/p>\n

The politician says mainstream media and \u201ctoxic\u201d content on social media are both reinforcing an extreme negative view of Ireland that is at odds with reality and making politicians \u201ctargets\u201d and \u201cfair game\u201d.<\/p>\n

One of the politicians was out with his wife in a restaurant when a man came over, put both his hands on their table and leant in and \u201cscreamed\u201d abuse in his face. <\/p>\n

On another occasion he went to the beach with his young child and was followed by a man shouting at them. The man continued to wait for them, shouting abuse, as they went on to the sand and into the water.<\/p>\n

On one occasion, as the politician walked a short journey in Dublin city centre to a government department, he was threatened \u201csix times\u201d. <\/p>\n

On a couple of other occasions he thought, \u201cI really could be in trouble here\u201d, when challenged on the street. <\/p>\n

He was assigned an armed Garda driver \u2013 as were all ministers \u2013 in changes to their security arrangements between three and four years ago.<\/p>\n

Another was approached and abused many times. \u201cYou curtail your movements. Grogan\u2019s is one of my favourite pubs in Dublin but there\u2019s no way I\u2019d go for pints in Grogan\u2019s \u2013 no chance \u2013 even if you had your guard sitting in a bar. Any of your normal haunts, you just wouldn\u2019t go,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Another politician used to canvass twice a week in his constituency and it was \u201cprobably the most positive part of my week\u201d. But that changed significantly in recent years, especially from January last year in the run-up to the local elections in June.<\/p>\n

The atmosphere on the doorsteps \u201cturned\u201d acutely negative and many encounters were \u201cnasty\u201d, mostly related to people saying: \u201cYou\u2019re destroying the country with asylum seekers.\u201d<\/p>\n

On one day, over a period of about an hour, \u201cfive people called me a c**t going past me … it wasn\u2019t pleasant\u201d, says the politician.<\/p>\n

Another, with ministerial experience, was initially assigned one armed garda to drive him and then a second \u201cto go walking beside me\u201d as the risk to him, and other politicians, was deemed to be growing. <\/p>\n

Even when he went shopping in his local Tesco, one of the garda\u00ed waited outside in the car and the other would be in the supermarket with him. <\/p>\n

Despite this, he has come to the conclusion there is only one way to avoid being abused.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a while I said to myself: \u2018No more holidaying in Ireland\u2019. If I\u2019m taking a bit of time, I need to get out of the country,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t, in any way, let my guard down when I\u2019m around the place.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris and his family were threatened online last weekend garda\u00ed quickly identified a Dublin woman…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,34888,18,13,14,6,14370,19,56,17,11,12,34886,15,16,5,34887,44,17420,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-46973","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-coimisiun-na-mean","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-helen-mcentee","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-immigration","18":"tag-ireland","19":"tag-latest-news","20":"tag-latestnews","21":"tag-leo-varadkar","22":"tag-main-news","23":"tag-mainnews","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-roderic-o-gorman","26":"tag-simon-harris","27":"tag-stephen-donnelly","28":"tag-top-stories","29":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}