Paul Hosford: Abuse of female politicians is unsurprising. That's the shocking thing

That 96% of female Oireachtas members have experienced online violence ought to be surprising. But such is the toxicity amplified by social media is 'systemic, pervasive, and embedded'

Aldagh McDonogh (Women for Election), Senator Alison Comyn (Irish Parliamentary Women’s Caucus), and former Garda commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan launching the report into ‘Gender-based violence against women politicians in Ireland’. Picture: Paul Sharp

Some 96% of female Oireachtas members have experienced online violence, and two thirds have changed their social media behaviour as a result.

That finding published this week by Women for Election is shocking, but not surprising.