Clare TD to make garda complaint after threat of hanging
Cathal Crowe TD said the perpetrator is not anonymous and is someone he has encountered in his political role. Picture:Gareth Chaney/Collins
A Clare TD has said he will not be “bullied” from doing his work after receiving messages on social media branding him a paedophile and threatening that he will be hanged outside his home.
Fianna Fáil’s Cathal Crowe says he will be making a report to gardaí this weekend in relation to the threats through social media, from a person he knows.
He told the that a number of messages have been received from the same person over a period of time and says he has also been subjected to abuse from other trolls which he has managed to block.
But Mr Crowe says the person behind the messages is not an anonymous troll but is someone he has encountered in his role as a politician.
He adds: “I have asked the person to back off and stop harassing me. I thought it had stopped.”
But he says that in the early hours of this morning, he received a message which referenced that he would be hanged outside his house.
Mr Crowe said that the person sent “someone out to corner me at advice clinics I held in a remote location” in Clare. He also said there was an unrelated incident at a different clinic on a separate occasion which also caused him concern.
He admitted that he is afraid, adding: “No more than any other politician, I put up with a lot of crap and trolling online. It is par for the course.”
But he said the recent reference to hanging is of particular concern.
He added: “I have just decided enough is enough. This weekend, I will be making a formal complaint.”
However, he says he will be continuing to hold advice clinics across his constituency.
Earlier this year, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns revealed that she has been subjected to harassment and had to install security systems at her home after a person turned up there. She no longer holds public clinics.
Minister of state for disability, Fianna Fáil TD Anne Rabbitte, who had animal excrement flung at her at a public meeting in recent months, while a man received a suspended sentence last year for sending sexually explicit messages to Minister of state for financial services, credit unions and insurance Jennifer Carroll MacNeill.
Ms MacNeill is now a member of a new taskforce which was set up on Safe Participation in Political Life last month by Oireachtas Ceann Comhairle, Séan Ó Fearghaíl and Cork Senator and Cathaoirleach Jerry Buttimer.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
