Mother of girl hit by egg at No rally gets online abuse

The mother of the 10-year-old girl who suffered a severe allergic reaction when attending a rally against the same-sex marriage referendum, says she has suffered terrible abuse online since.

Muireann DeClár, who is extremely allergic to eggs, had to be treated with emergency medicine after she was hit.

The egg was thrown by a heckler at the event in Co Meath where she was attending the rally with her mother, Aoife, at the time.

Aoife has since said she was abused online for bringing her daughter along with her.

She said: "I hardly slept at all last night, there were some terribly hurtful things said, like 'I shouldn't be able to have children', 'what kind of a mother would do this to her children to expose her children to this?'.

"I was so hurt. I am very passionate about being a mother, I've given up everything to be at home with the children, I've sacrificed an awful lot for the lifestyle that we have now with the children at home.

"It just proves that I can't have an opinion, I wasn't arguing with anybody, I didn't do anything, I just stood there supporting these people that said No, and that is why I was targeted, that's why my child was targeted."

Aoife denied that the event was a political rally.

She said: "It wasn't a rally, it wasn't a protest, it was a meet-and-greet that was only going to be on for an hour.

"We have been at other protests, we've brought our children to the anti-water charge protest in Dublin and to other ones that have been on here in Navan.

"I want my children to know that it is important to us that we are thinking about their future, the society that they are growing up in."

Aoife explained that she usually carries an adrenaline pen with her when she is with Muireann.

She said: "Yes, I should do, and I almost always do, they have an expiry date and I had new ones at home.

"But we are very lucky that we live in the town, literally two minutes from where we were, my husband came out and brought us immediately home."

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