Elaine Loughlin: Kathleen Funchion's case shows what coercive control really looks like — and why we need to listen
Kathleen Funchion described the lasting trauma of being in a relationship in which her ex-partner 'always had to control the narrative' and 'did everything in his power to continue this until the very end'. File picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos
Gardaí, legal teams and defendants milled in and out of courtroom 1 as Judge Cephas Power made his way down a list of thefts, pub spats and public order cases. Behind the bare charges outlined, snippets of the turmoil and strife of some of those before the district court emerged.
Like the mother-of-two up on several shoplifting charges, who herself had been adopted and suffered sexual abuse in childhood before becoming addicted to medication she had been prescribed. The court heard that many of the items taken were basic necessities and was also told of the struggles of rearing a child with a severe disability.
The morning dragged into lunch as sentences were handed down or cases were put back to another date. It was mid-afternoon by the time Sean Tyrrell was called to appear before the judge, at which point the courtroom had largely filtered out.
But the sentencing hearing, which on the day was sandwiched between the humdrum circuit court itinerary of cases and family court hearings on Monday, has since made national news.
Tyrrell was given a four-month prison sentence, with a sperate four-month jail term suspended for two years, for offences under Section 4 of the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020, also known as Coco's Law.
In a powerful impact statement, which she read out in court, his former partner MEP Kathleen Funchion described the lasting trauma of being in a relationship in which her ex-partner "always had to control the narrative" and "did everything in his power to continue this until the very end".
"It is very difficult to have to say this aloud but it is the reality of my life now," an emotional Funchion told the court.
In coming forward and speaking out, Ms Funchion who was an elected representative in Dáil Éireann throughout what was described as the "dysfunctional" relationship with Tyrrell, should be a wake-up call for many that harassment, manipulation, coercive control and other forms of abuse are quietly pervasive and are not limited to any specific social class, ethnicity, or educational background.
"Shocking it can even happen to someone like a TD," was one text message I received from a colleague working in the media after my report on the case was published this week. The stereotype of a broken and vulnerable woman who is easily taken advantage of, needs to be done away with.
Outwardly strong leaders in their communities, such as Ms Funchion, can and are being subjected to manipulative abuse that ekes away at the person and makes them doubt everything about themselves.
"It is something that will stay with me forever, the worry, the upset and at times to this day the disbelief of what has happened, will never leave," the Sinn Féin politician said in her victim impact statement. Disbelief is an emotion felt by many.
Coercive control creates invisible chains and a sense of fear that pervades all elements of a survivor’s life.
American sociologist Evan Stark, who developed the concept of coercive control, likened it to being taken hostage as “the victim becomes captive in an unreal world created by the abuser, entrapped in a world of confusion, contradiction and fear.”
Speaking after Tyrrell was jailed this week, Ms Funchion described the slow realisation of the situation she found herself in: "When you’re with someone who is a controlling person, that doesn't happen overnight, it's subtle and it happens over time and I suppose you really get to a stage where you feel there's something wrong with you, and it's not something where you wake up one morning and realise, this is not a great situation. It happens over time.
"I’m conscious that there are probably other people in situations like that and they are probably thinking, ‘is there something wrong with me?’. So I just wanted to be able to stress that it can be very subtle and you can’t see it creep up and you can nearly become agreeable to some of the ways that this person acts towards you like handing over your phone.
"When you’re removed from the situation and you’re speaking to other people, you realise that that is not normal behaviour.”
Coco's law, the legislation which Tyrrell was jailed under, was debated by politicians in the Dáil and enacted in 2021 when Ms Funchion was a sitting TD. A year later, she sought support through Amber women’s refuge in Kilkenny before going to gardaí.
Coco's Law was named after 21-year-old Nicole 'Coco' Fox, who died by suicide in 2018 after suffering years of physical and online abuse that started just after she turned 18.
The law, criminalises the sharing of, or threatening to share, intimate images without a person’s consent, with or without intent to cause harm to the victim. The act also targets other areas of harmful communications by creating a new offence of distributing, publishing, or sending a threatening or grossly offensive communication with intent to cause harm.
Kilkenny district court this week heard that Tyrrell persisted in making allegations of unfaithfulness, which were incorrect, and tried to force Ms Funchion to take a lie detector test that caused "very considerable upset".
In August of 2022, after the couple had fully separated, Tyrrell contacted a national newspaper journalist outlining what the court heard was "false information" of domestic violence and financial abuse by a Sinn Féin politician.
He sent screengrabs of these emails to Ms Funchion and threatened to provide the journalist with her name if she did not agree to a number of demands which included taking the lie detector test and arranging a meeting with Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald.
Tyrell also threatened to contact the spouses of a number of Ms Funchion's close friends to falsely claim they had been unfaithful in their marriages if she did not comply with his demands.
Addressing the court, Ms Funchion said: "This has been without a doubt the most difficult process that I have ever dealt with in my life. Sean tried to destroy some of the most important parts of my life through his actions, threatening my relationships with my family members, my long-term close friends and trying to use my job against me."
An operational review published last September showed that almost 100 cases had been prosecuted in the three years since Coco's law came into effect.
Ms Funchion's case will now be added to the statistics. But in speaking up, she has created much-need publicity around a crime that often is hidden.
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