Minorities abused on social media to score political points, warns minister 

Mental Health Minister Mary Butler: 'Minority groups are being used as a political football and their mental health is suffering as a result, and to be honest I’m sick to the teeth of it.'

Abuse of minorities on social media to score political points is leading to sometimes tragic impacts on their mental health, minister of state for mental health Mary Butler has warned.

In particular, she highlighted the abuse of transpeople, saying when she refers to transhealth, she closes X (Twitter) for 48 hours to avoid abuse of herself and that group.

“Minority groups are being used as a political football and their mental health is suffering as a result, and to be honest I’m sick to the teeth of it,” she said.

"Sometimes I say something myself, and then I’ll know straight away I’ll going to be thrown under [that] but I’m really good in that I can put down the phone for 48 hours.” 

She said there was an onus on the media and on anyone who uses social media to reflect on “how we speak about minority groups, how we speak about people who come into our country looking for help, how we speak about the Traveller community, how we speak about the LGBT community”. 

Such is her concern for vulnerable people, she said, she avoids using ‘transgender’ in Government communications. These documents can be released under the Freedom of Information Act, known informally as FOI.

“I cannot mention the word transgender as a minister in anything formal such an email or a report, or it will be FOI’d,” she said.

She added: “They are harsh words for me to say, but they are absolutely true.” 

Ms Butler was addressing a conference on how media reports on suicide, hosted by the National Office of Suicide Prevention and the Department of Health with the World Health Organization.

UCC professor Ella Arensman urged the media to follow guidelines on reporting suicide more strictly. Picture: Fergal Phillips

Press ombudsman Susan McKay welcomed Ms Butler's comments, saying there was “an atmosphere of intimidation” around some issues.

“It is really really unhelpful to all concerned,” she said. 

There is a lot of bullying going on at the moment which is silencing proper debates on sensitive issues and creating huge levels of stress and anxiety in people.

The minister also said two-thirds of mental health supports were accessed by girls and women. There is an urgent need to get this information to boys and men, she said.

“I’m tired of going to funerals and I’m meeting parents afterwards or meeting families and they are saying to me ‘if we’d only known there are supports there for my son to attend’,” she said.

Professor Ella Arensman, head of the school of Public Health and professor of Public Mental Health at University College Cork urged the media to follow guidelines on reporting suicide more strictly. 

She shared examples of how detailed descriptions of suicide-methods, including in TV dramas, have been linked to tragic imitations.

“It is also important to look at how can we balance the information in reports on suicide and I think we have huge opportunities if we invest more time in so-called analytic articles,” she said.

However, Prof Arensman, who is also the chief scientist of the National Suicide Research Foundation, also cautioned: “One has to be careful with announcing largely the positive narratives if you cannot rely on sufficient access to the mental health services and the supports.” 

If a young man only gets an answer machine on calling a service, she said “that in itself could further trigger increased suicidal thoughts and ideation”.