‘Any woman in her right mind would not go into politics. You are completely dehumanised’

A bullet shell left at the back door. A long lens over the garden wall. A letter that says: “you have a nice little body,” with an extremely detailed description of the sexual acts the author wants to perform. A letter that says: “I have a picture of you stuck on my bedroom wall” which is defiled. A voice note sent on WhatsApp that says: “I’m going to piss on you.” Pictures of body parts: male, female, animals. Online messages that say: “you are a bitch, a tramp, a whore.” A nine-year campaign of online abuse.

Shockingly, some of the above is what one female TD describes as “the usual”.

Earlier this month Joseph Baldwin, from Gort in Galway, threw two bags of cow faeces at Fianna Fáil Minister of State Anne Rabbitte and Fine Gael TD Ciaran Cannon at a public meeting. The incident shone a light on an issue that some politicians are reluctant to talk about, namely their own safety.

This reluctance is most pronounced among female TDs and Senators. The reason for this is that, by and large, they are on the receiving end of the vilest and most distressing abuse and threats.

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Five prominent women politicians, well known to the public on air and in the Dáil and Seanad, spoke to The Irish Times about the full extent of what they are dealing with. Each gave compelling reasons for not being able to speak out on the record. All of them have been forced to make reports to gardaí at some point. Some have installed CCTV at their homes, extra locks on their front door, even extra locks on their bedroom doors.

The man had been hanging around the neighbourhood, watching her in her home. She got messages saying she looked ‘even better in real life’

Some have completely stopped holding constituency clinics on the advice of gardaí. Others have put in place a “buddy system” so they are never alone at meetings that could get heated. Two of the politicians said they had been followed. What no one has figured out yet, is how to address the problem.

Getting worse

“One reason I don’t talk about this publicly is because it just leads to more abuse. The other reason is this: we really want to encourage more women to go into politics, but no one will want to if they hear how bad it is,” says one female TD.

She says she is speaking about it now because it is getting worse, and she is worried about where it will lead.

“It could be anything from vile letters, letters about having a picture of me stuck to their wall covered in semen, voice notes, messages on Instagram, random stuff saying, ‘I’m going to kill you.’ For so long, I did not think it was having any effect.”

That was until someone turned up at her front door.

“It put the fear of God into me.” The man had been hanging around the neighbourhood, watching her in her home. She got messages saying she looked “even better in real life”.

She went from feeling safe in her home to installing multiple new locks, CCTV and heavy blinds. Gardaí told her she should not carry out constituency clinics unless she had some “supervision”.

Like other female politicians, she praises the work of the gardaí, but much of the abuse she receives could be considered as being outside their remit or not technically warranting intervention from An Garda Síochána.

After several incidents, which she says left her “shaken to my core”, she stopped going on TV in fear of her safety.

“It felt like the more [media] I did, the more I was drawing it on myself or something. I’m still not back to how I used to be. It knocked me back. That is the worst thing about it. I should be doing my job.”

For her the main solution is this: “We need to get more women into politics. The more women there are, the less targeted we will be.”

One issue she highlights is how easy it is for people to find her address. She argues that this should not be the case and that politicians should not, whether on the council or in the Oireachtas, have to disclose their exact address.

She also says that, ahead of the next general election in two years, authorities in Leinster House, and in political parties too, need to look at providing a briefing to new TDs to make them aware of what they can do to ensure their own safety.

‘Completely dehumanised’

In another political party, a prominent female TD gives this blunt assessment when asked if she would now advise other women to go into politics. “Absolutely not. Any woman in her right mind would not go into politics. You are completely dehumanised.”

She says of the level of abuse: “It is ferocious. You don’t say anything about it, because if you do, there is really, honestly, nowhere to get support from. It can be perceived as a weakness in terms of not being able to deal with it.”

She tried to get into her car outside of the office and he prevented her from doing so. A man who was walking past them saw what was happening and intervened, giving her an opportunity to flee

“It varies from pornographic stuff that you delete and don’t react to, to threats and physical stuff where you fear for your physical safety. It has got worse.”

Recently she went to gardaí after an incident in her constituency office. She told the constituent that, after reviewing his files, he needed legal representation as he had exhausted all of the channels that she would have recommended.

She was effectively telling him she had done all that she could do for him.

“Then he absolutely turned. He started screaming and roaring and coming up into my face.” She tried to get into her car outside of the office and he prevented her from doing so. A man who was walking past them saw what was happening and intervened, giving her an opportunity to flee.

“I was completely shaken. I spoke to the gardaí about it and they were excellent.”

She says, however: “I cannot be running to the Gardaí every time.” What is the solution? “We have to stop dehumanising politicians. We are all human beings, doing the best we can.”

She says party leaders also have an important role in making sure that, where members raise safety concerns, these are fully addressed. “They really need to take it seriously. There have been many times where it has not been taken seriously.”

‘Spat at’

The incident with the cow faeces garnered a lot of attention, but similar situations happen more regularly than people are aware of.

“I have had red sauce, eggs and other objects thrown at one of my constituency offices, my staff have been shouted at, spat at, called all kinds of names, [they have had] hate speech uttered in their presence, they have dealt with drunks entering my office abusing them, people high on drugs who get very aggressive. I have had to introduce a buddy system in the offices and reduce my hours of access,” another female politician says.

She says has had “pictures of body parts – men’s, women’s and animals – sent to me which I was not privy to but badly impacted my parliamentary assistant, who moderates my social media.”

“I have been called bitch, tramp, whore, and eejit online and in person, I have had my photo superimposed on to images of witches, people getting sick, scantily clad bodies.”

“I have had people impersonate me knocking on doors and abuse people, shouting at them and proudly declaring to be me.”

The issue of safety beyond the Dáil, such as at constituency offices, is now a live one. TDs say they have been informed that the Oireachtas is considering a new allowance to beef up security for politicians’ local offices, not only for their sake but for the sake of their staff who work there every day. Some politicians are also privately calling for a dedicated officer within An Garda Síochána with whom they can liaise, who would be a point of contact in the event of any threats.

Flood of comments

Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan was asked on Newstalk recently what kind of abuse she was forced to deal with.

“I’ve been spat on, I’ve had coins thrown at me, I’ve had my house and car and children photographed and some of it put on social media with abuse.”

She added: “I’ve gone past the stage of recommending politics to people.”

After she spoke out, there was a predictable flood of comments in some areas on Twitter, with one video comparing her to Princess Fiona from Shrek and other users calling her a “bitch”, and an “idiot.” Other female politicians looked at this and felt vindicated in their decision, until now, not to speak out about their experiences.

While female members of the Oireachtas are subjected to more sexualised and gendered abuse, male politicians are feeling it too.

Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond has blocked thousands of people online. He has received messages from people threatening to knock his teeth out if they see him in the street.

“The one thing that really gets me is when my sister sees these things, or my mother-in-law. They get really upset. Friends who mean well will send you on what they’ve seen. But it all builds up after a while, and it does upset you. I don’t need to see that, to see people bringing my kids into it, saying I hope they are proud of you.”

He says that anonymity on Twitter needs to be removed. By his calculation, it would take 50 per cent of the most harmful content away overnight. He also says that the reasons for reporting a message online are too “black and white”.

“Also, the people who cheerlead this sort of stuff need to think long and hard about what they are doing. There are lots of people online with big followings who see themselves as a talking heads who need to reflect on what they are doing.”

Compliment her body

Younger female TDs who happen to be single appear to be among the most vulnerable. Two women in the Dáil who are not in relationships have said that once it became known locally that they were unattached, the intensity of messages and letters increased dramatically. One said she pretended, for a while, that she was with someone because men were deterred by that. Another described the kinds of messages she might receive. Men would compliment her body or appearance and demand a response.

She references a local man who she would always have been friendly with when she had a partner. When it became known that her relationship with her partner ended, the same man “turned”. He would send her extreme messages and she now goes out of her way to avoid him.

“If women were acting like that, we would be accused of being crazy,” she says. Sometimes men will message her propositioning her, and when she does not respond they become angry and lash out at her. She has received messages from these men, who she says are almost always older men, telling her that they will remember it in future, or at the next election.

When it comes to being targeted online or in person, the problem does not just lie with sexually graphic images or letters, or outright abuse or threats. It can be more insidious. One woman says she has endured a nine-year campaign of abuse at the hands of a man who has made it his business to make up falsehoods about her personal life.

Over a period of years, this man would cast aspersions on her ability to do her job. He would comment on her clothes and her appearance. The claims became more and more ludicrous. He said that during Covid-19, she was out drinking and spreading the virus and he put up factually incorrect posts about her relationships.

“He says whatever he wants about me. He wrote that I was down the courts with my ex-partner, which never happened.”

‘I know people say you need a thick skin for politics but it is the wrong attitude. I’ll be honest, I could have nearly given up [politics] but the stubborn part of me can’t let them win’

She said there were comments about how she had the “brain for being a mother or maybe a social worker, that I looked confused and was out of my depth. It started to really upset me.” Eventually, she had to go to counselling. “He was relentless.” She complained to Facebook on numerous occasions but said she was left with the impression that “they genuinely did not care”.

In one email sent by Facebook to the TD, seen by The Irish Times, a representative for Facebook wrote: “We have looked at the content in great detail and, unfortunately, it does not violate any of our community standards.”

‘Different standard’

They said that “when it comes to public figures, a different standard applies”.

“In short, we allow more robust discussion and debate around public figures and matters of public interest. We have an obligation to allow a broad range of views to surface, and to facilitate free debate. This often takes the form of opinion or commentary about individuals who are in the public sphere.”

She went to a solicitor but was told that the man, in turn, would just represent himself, talk for hours and drag it out while her legal bills mounted. Regardless, she spent €1,200 trying to put a stop to his posts.

“I know people say you need a thick skin for politics but it is the wrong attitude. I’ll be honest, I could have nearly given up [politics] but the stubborn part of me can’t let them win. But it is hard. I would be on my holidays and it would consume me. People would see it in me, they’d ask if I was okay, is there something going on.”

She says that anyone who wants to post online should have to upload a valid ID, with an address to match. Furthermore, there should be more scope to explain why a report is being made online about somebody, with broader parameters for complaint.

“There needs to be better way of giving detail about the issue – even something like 150 words to explain.” She also believes the Oireachtas should establish a support service whereby women or men could speak to someone who has experience of these issues so they can get advice on what steps they feasibly can take.

Finally, she says that many of the abusive messages she receives are from people who send them knowing that because she is a public representative, she probably won’t speak out about it. “They rely on the fact that I do the job I do.” Speaking out, she believes, might finally help to highlight the reality of what is happening, particularly for women across all levels of politics.