Flatlining now
‘You are lucky we didn’t get you, this time’ – more than 30 Irish politicians have had serious threats made against them
Gardaí receive reports from TDs and senators over chilling messages received in the last six months
Donald Trump was blamed for rise in online abuse. Photo: Reuters
Ali Bracken
More than 30 politicians say they have received a serious threat made against them and most have reported it to the gardaí.
The Sunday Independent asked all 174 TDs and 60 senators about threats made against them in the past six months and whether they are taking steps to increase their security.
A litany of violent threats have been directed at Tánaiste Simon Harris and his family in recent weeks which have been deemed “serious and sustained” by gardaí and are being investigated.
Four serving government ministers are among dozens of politicians who have now outlined their own ongoing personal security concerns to this newspaper.
We found 33 politicians said they have received a serious threat. Eleven politicians said they have received no direct threats but expressed concern for their colleagues.
Five politicians said they have applied for government funding under a scheme to enhance their security, with a maximum of €25,000 available. Another three said they are considering applying for funding.
Gardaí are investigating threats to Simon Harris. Photo: PA
Many noted a sharp rise in abuse and threats post-Covid, with a significant proportion of politicians attributing a lot of the abuse to “far-right and anti-immigrant” factions.
One cabinet minister pointed out that while they are provided with garda security in the form of an armed driver, other politicians do not have the same protection.
A minister living outside of Dublin has been issued with several recent death threats. A probe by the Special Detective Unit (SDU) began in recent weeks over these threats. The minister is enhancing security at their home and their family has been left “terrified”.
One chilling text received while out for a walk named their exact location and told them: “You are lucky we didn’t get you, this time.” The politician has also been the victim of a poster smear campaign in their hometown, where they’ve been accused of “facilitating rape and murder” amid calls for them to be “hung by the ankles” in the town square.
Another minister outlined threats involving two of their children, both under the age of six. One of their daughters was “lunged at in the street” as they walked with the child. The man’s “words were aimed” at the minister but his “physical aggression was aimed at my unsuspecting child”. A woman passing by helped them escape from the man.
In a separate incident, the minister was carrying another daughter, having gotten out of their car when a man made an aggressive approach. He started “screaming racist obscenities and anti-migrant vitriol”, leaving the young child in terror. Gardaí tracked down and spoke to both of the men involved.
“Both of my daughters remember these incidents very well, they happened in the past year or so. I’m concerned about the traumatic effect it has had on them,” the minister explained.
A third minister was also targeted in a sinister incident when they opened a letter and powder spilled out. Amid Anthrax fears, specialist gardaí were called in. The substances transpired to be harmless but “the fear was instilled”.
The same minister received a death threat saying they would “receive a bullet through the head” if they didn’t implement specific political changes in a letter that included their home address. The same politician received numerous “silent” 4am and 5am phone calls in a bid to intimidate. The fake Anthrax letter and the postal death threat were passed to gardaí but were untraceable.
A fourth minister explained they have reported several death threats to gardaí, as well as abuse of their son online. It is understood gardaí have sought a “threat to kill” prosecution in relation to one incident. The minister said: “I never travel alone anymore. I haven’t considered my future as a politician. However, when it affects your family that’s different, it makes you stop and think.”
One female senator said she was bitten separately by three dogs that were set upon her while out canvassing in last year’s local elections.
Donald Trump was blamed for rise in online abuse. Photo: Reuters
A TD outlined how two men recently called to her constituency office and told staff they planned to “burn it to the ground”. It has been reported to gardaí.
The female TD added: “I call it the Tate/Trump/McGregor effect. There’s been a huge increase in misogynistic sentiment online and women politicians are getting the brunt of a lot of it. I’m regularly called a ‘traitor’ on the street. And it’s escalating.”
One politician received a bullet in the post as well as an online threat to firebomb his home over his support of asylum-seekers. It was reported to gardaí and investigated and a man is due before court next month charged in relation to these offences.
One TD said he has received several phone calls issuing death threats and a female member of his staff was threatened with sexual violence.
“I have had to make significant changes to my security arrangements, both at home and in my constituency office. It is a sad reflection of where we are that my office, which for years was an open, welcoming, walk-in space for constituents, is now fitted with a buzzer system to control access,” he said.
The majority of politicians highlighted online abuse and many didn’t make a complaint to gardaí as they feel it’s “sadly just accepted as part and parcel of modern political life”. Some of the politicians have lodged complaints with social media companies. Many said they were unsatisfied with how their complaints were handled by the tech giants, with one describing them as “useless”.
Several politicians voiced fears about an “inevitable” escalation in violence directed towards them.
“The last week has made me realise how I have allowed myself to believe that nasty phone calls and emails, online abuse and rants on the street were somehow part of the job in political life,” said a female TD.
“My concern lies not with the person who writes the comments but rather the person who reads them and may seize an opportunity to harm someone. I do feel it is only a matter of time.”
A male TD said: “I am concerned for my safety and in a sense, I am grateful that I do not have children. What Simon Harris’s family has been put through is abhorrent. I am very worried that if something does not change in this country that a TD will be murdered carrying out their work.”
A number of female politicians said they were subjected to regular sexist abuse.
“As a woman in politics, I’ve found simply expressing an opinion can trigger abuse online. I knew I would face scrutiny. What I didn’t anticipate was the relentless, dehumanising abuse that comes with simply daring to participate in public life,” a female senator said. “Criticism is part of the job, but too often the language becomes sexual or violent.”
A number of politicians who are part of the LGBTQ+ community highlighted troubling abuse and threats. Some have been described as “paedophiles” and “groomers” online.
All of the public representatives stated threats directed at family members caused them most concern.
“A threat was made to ‘kick my daughters’ heads around like footballs’,” said one TD, who reported it to gardaí and a man was questioned.
One veteran TD revealed a unique way of dealing with abusive phone calls. “When I get an anonymous call making threats, I say, ‘name a time and a place and I’ll meet you’. I don’t back down. They hang up then,” they said.
“I got 530 texts over two days from the same person. Something has gone wrong since Covid, it’s gone septic. I wouldn’t advise any person to run.”
There are several cases currently before the courts, including a threat to kill or cause serious harm to Galway TD Hildegarde Naughton and Fine Gael Senator Seán Kyne. Two men are separately before the courts charged with threats against Mr Harris, unrelated to the current threats he is facing.
In another case, a student has been charged with harassing and stalking a female politician in the west of Ireland.
One political adviser described the threats to politicians as “relentless”, saying: “It’s a threat to democracy. The newer TDs are saying they won’t stand again. It’s that serious.”
This fella is a lesser known Irish actor and film maker who appears to have gone full graham linehan buck mental over covid etc etc. He spoke at the tommy robinson march in London and unfurled a tricolour 
I’ve never heard of him as an actor (a crisis actor perhaps) but would be vaguely familiar with his Twitter persona. He’s @glenshane level lemon meringue brain.
Gary is what you get when you order an economist from Temu
In fairness he was roaring and shouting at anyone to buy gold and it’s more than doubled in price since.
I like him. I agree with him on a few things as well. I think there is a lot of super wealthy people who have too much power and too much wealth. It’s distorting things for the ordinary folk.
I’m not talking about a guy with ten million or whatever. It’s when you go into billions and billions.
California is probably the best example. By GDP it’s something like behind only 4 counties but look at the social issues.
I read recently something like 14 percent of Americans earn over a 100k a year. It’s completely distorting things.
agreed, he makes many valid points, it’s his low energy delivery and state of ‘has he washed recently?’ that detracts from his message.
he needs some new material too.
I hope @Barname enjoyed his day out.
Isn’t that the lad that @flattythehurdler was saying isn’t a nazi?
Bring back the IRA
Eoin Murphy getting busy on X again the past few days
Did Simon get the answer for him in the end?
He’s deeply moved and newly re-radicalised by the sudden death of Charlie Kirkenny.
He is AWAKE.
In terms of Kilkenny hurling personalities becoming headbangers before our very eyes on X…veteran journalist Enda McEvoy seems to be teetering on the brink.
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Rob Shillman is one for the nominative determinism thread.
John Simpson
Home affairs editor
](John Simpson | The Observer)
Outside the Old Bailey in 2018, a reinvented Tommy Robinson flashed his perfect new teeth to 2,000 diehard supporters at a “free Tommy” rally on a stage that blocked the street.
Robinson was suddenly flush with US funds that transformed him from rightwing agitator to self-styled “citizen journalist”, with slick videos and a vast social media following that helped his Unite the Kingdom demonstration draw 110,000 protesters to the streets of London on Saturday.
Money from one man – US tech billionaire Robert Shillman – ties Robinson to a Who’s Who of far-right influencers with millions of followers online. Among them was US conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was murdered in Utah last week.
Robinson’s reinvention for the social media age, which expanded his heavy focus on Muslims allegedly involved in child sexual abuse, was the result of his “Shillman fellowship” in 2017 to rightwing Canadian website Rebel Media – now called Rebel News – to the tune of about £85,000 over a year.
Shillman, who calls himself “Dr Bob”, citing his PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is said to be a key figure in the transatlantic “counter-jihad” movement. He has invested in about 20 fellowships, working with Rebel News and rightwing thinktank the David Horowitz Freedom Center (DHFC), where the aim is “to promote freedom and to expose the lies of the radical left, the Islamist movement, and their allies in the media”.
Shillman “fellows” at Rebel News included Katie Hopkins, the former reality TV star, who made a documentary on “the mass slaughter of South Africa’s whites” in September 2018, long before the conspiracy theory was repeated by Donald Trump in the White House. The idea of a white genocide in South Africa based on attacks on farmers has been repeatedly debunked. Soon after, Rebel News brought in a new Shillman fellow, Laura Loomer, who is now a powerful conspiracy theorist with such proximity to Trump that she is referred to as the president’s “de facto national security adviser”.
Shillman, a former board member of Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces, hosts a pro-Israel podcast and also funds fellowships through the DHFC thinktank. Its founder, David Horowitz, was an anti-Muslim ideologue described as the “intellectual godfather” of the Trump administration in an obituary when he died in April this year. Another DHFC Shillman fellow was Raheem Kassam, a former Ukip adviser who set up the UK arm of Breitbart News, where Steve Bannon was chair. Bannon, who spoke at Robinson’s rally , once reportedly called him “the backbone of this country”.
At about the same time Shillman’s money was flowing to Robinson, Hopkins and Loomer, he paid more than $200,000 towards the legal fees of Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders in his successful defence against allegations of hate speech directed at Muslims and Moroccans. Wilders spoke at two “free Tommy” rallies in 2018 and Robinson visited him in the Netherlands.
Shillman also championed Kirk, funding speaking tours of the US and backing his non-profit Turning Point USA. Its British offshoot, Turning Point UK, held a vigil in London on Friday after Kirk was shot dead while speaking at a university in Utah.
Robinson – whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – ended his fellowship shortly before Rebel News took on Hopkins, another leading light of Britain’s right wing, who also spoke at the rally . The DHFC also promoted far-right US commentator Candace Owens, who is married to former Turning Point UK chair George Farmer. Owens, who has 7 million followers on X, received the Annie Taylor award for courage from the DHFC for opposing political correctness, before it cut ties with her for suggesting Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.
The Middle East Forum (MEF), a rightwing thinktank that promotes US interests in the region, paid for the stage outside the Old Bailey in 2018 and sent staff to support Robinson. The MEF and the DHFC also invited Robinson to speak in the US in 2018 but he was denied a visa.
More recently, Robinson – who claims he is penniless – is said to have received funds for legal fees from Elon Musk and Tristan Tate, the brother of the toxic masculinity influencer Andrew Tate, though Musk has never confirmed the payments.
Musk, who revived Robinson’s social media fortunes by reversing a Twitter ban when he bought the platform in 2022 and renamed it X, has earned millions of dollars by reinstating and promoting polemicists such as Robinson, according to the US Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit promoting online safety. Robinson, who has 1.5 million followers on X, still regularly features on Rebel News with its editor-in-chief, the self-styled “rebel commander” Ezra Levant, who runs online fundraisers for Robinson, the former leader of the English Defence League. Joe Mulhall, research director at the anti-fascism organisation Hope Not Hate, who tracks far-right groups, said: “Ezra Levant was the one who turned round and first professionalised Robinson’s content, and paid for him to be able to do that, but also made clear that there was no opportunity that should be lost in terms of making money.
“So Rebel Media was really fundamental to that. And the Tommy Robinson who calls himself a journalist did not exist before Rebel Media.”
Speaking about the broader cohort of influencers funded by Shillman and supported by the rightwing thinktanks, Mulhall added: “The long tail of that scene, I think, is its huge influence on politics, even in the White House.”
Shillman declined to comment, and the DHFC and Robinson did not respond to requests.
