Social media has heightened vitriol and hate towards politicians, say Harney and Coughlan

Former tánaistí told MacGill summer school they received abuse from traditional media during their time in politics

Former tánaiste Mary Harney said she was in favour of social media being regulated not just in Ireland, but globally. File picture: Leon Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Social media has exacerbated the level of abuse aimed at politicians, two former tánaistí have said.

Mary Harney and Mary Coughlan were speaking at the MacGill Summer School, which is taking place virtually for the second year. Both said an acceptable level of abuse was set around the financial crash, during which Ms Coughlan was tánaiste.

However, both said that the situation had become much worse in the era of social media.

Ms Harney said she had recently spoken to a female TD about the abuse she receives.

"I was speaking to a young female TD and I asked her what her experience was and she said, ‘You have no idea how bad it is’  She said it’s really rough, the vitriol and the hatred that’s targeted at women.

People talk about what she looks like and how she speaks and it’s never about what she said. She said – and I can vouch for this as this was my experience – it has a terrible effect on her family, her loved ones, her parents.

“And I had the same. My mother used to get so upset, and this would be in the traditional media rather than the social media.

“I think it’s really worrying what is happening with social media. I had left politics before social media took root. I think I would have found it extremely hard to operate in the current social media environment, quite honestly.”

Ms Harney said she was in favour of social media being regulated not just in Ireland, but globally.

'Awful abuse'

Ms Coughlan said she “had awful abuse".

"When you think back, people wouldn’t tolerate it now," she said.

“I see that abuse has gotten worse now because of social media. The vitriol is awful, absolutely desperate. Politicians are seen as fair game, they are not entitled to have an opinion and they can’t make a mistake. It really does impact on people and especially impacts on families, especially if you have children.

It’s very difficult for people to be in public life at the best of times but to have all of that thrown on top of what you do, it’s just absolutely awful and it shows a really coarse side of public life which is really not acceptable.”

Both Ms Harney and Ms Coughlan said  the traditional media had been difficult to face, with Ms Coughlan saying newspapers had been banned from her home.

“I was a married woman with two young children and my late husband was just apoplectic about the effects that it would have on the kids and on the family. We didn’t have as much social media at the time. The vitriol is awful, it’s desperate and it’s not just here, it’s in other countries, the UK, the US as well where politicians are seen as fair game."