'He said he was going to kill me': Councillor threatened while hanging election posters

Dublin Green Party councillor Janet Horner said abuse online is going unchecked and feeding into real life interactions. Picture: Janet Horner/Facebook

A Dublin city councillor says she was attacked and threatened while hanging election posters.

Green party representative for the north inner city, Janet Horner, said the the incident happened last week on the North Circular Road when she was approached by a man.

"He tried to lurch for the posters, he tried to lurch for the ladder, roaring about how he did not want our Green Party expletive around the area," she explained.

"He said Dublin 1 was far right. He said he was going to kill me, he said he was going to kill my friends."

Ms Horner said abuse online is going unchecked and feeding into real-life interactions.

It comes as Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl warned that if social media platforms do not exercise “common decency” then “legislation will have to become a factor.” 

“You cannot have a situation in which people are pilloried. You have, on the one hand, social media organisations talking about freedom of speech and then when somebody expresses a view, there is this massive pile-on of abuse and terror and threats unleashed upon them,” he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.

Mr Ó Fearghaíl was commenting on the results of a report of the Task Force on Safe Participation in Political Life report and the findings of a UCD survey on the abuse and harassment of members of the Houses of the Oireachtas and their staff.

“What we have is a firm proposal from them that we must have an implementation team, which will be established in the month of July and which will continue in existence to oversee the detailed implementation of these recommendations," he said. 

"But the recommendations that we have cover government departments, cover the Oireachtas, our dealings with the Garda Síochána, NGOs and so on. But what needs to be done stretches way beyond that.” 

Mr Ó Fearghaíl added that it was unfortunate that some “appalling” activities were being tolerated on social media platforms.

When asked how the social media companies were going to be ‘reined in’, the Ceann Comhairle said he hoped they would engage with the Government.

“If common decency is not going to prevail then I think legislation has to become a factor in the approach to all of this. You cannot have a situation in which people are pilloried.” 

Some topics were being avoided by politicians because of the fear that they would be “piled on” and this was affecting their ability to do their work, he said.

“We can't have that, we just have to change.”

It comes after a former Garda Commissioner said yesterday that there is an increasingly "palpable sense of menace" is coming from a small cohort of people around political and public life.

Noirín O'Sullivan was speaking at the launch of the Task Force on Safe Participation in Political Life report and the findings of a UCD survey on the abuse and harassment of members of the Houses of the Oireachtas and their staff.

Ms O'Sullivan, who chaired the taskforce, told the event there has been an increase in threats and abuse of politicians in recent years.

"I think what we are seeing is massive exponential rise...in terms of the use of social media as a platform, the anonymity provided by the algorithms and social media and people being able to hide behind them and become keyboard warriors and the pile-ons that people are having, and so on.

"But I also think that that spillover into the real space - so when people are creating these issues, creating a frenzy on social media, and then how it spills over and manifests itself in the physical space that's something I think we all have to be aware of."

A Garda spokesperson said they have appointed "Liaison Inspectors" in each of division nationwide "to help keep all those participating in the forthcoming elections safe while campaigning".

"Our Garda Divisional Crime Prevention Officers are based around the country to help on any matter of personal safety and are available to take a report of any incident, including those involving an election candidate and/or their campaign volunteers," the Garda spokesperson added.

These Crime Prevention Officers can be contacted by contacting any Garda station 

"Should anyone contesting an election experience harassment and be the victim of any crime they are advised to report this to An Garda Síochána at their earliest opportunity. Should any election candidate or person involved in a campaign find themselves in immediate danger or in an emergency, please always call 999/112," the Garda statement read.

The Garda National Community Engagement Bureau has input into a new safety guide for female election candidates, the spokesperson added.

This includes essential guidance and advice on how best they can protect themselves and their election teams, while out canvassing and engaging within the community. 

"It further details how to safely navigate their use of online platforms and social media sites,"

The document was published last week in conjunction with ‘Women for Election’ and ‘See Her Elected’."