‘People feel they can insult you’ - the online abuse Kilkenny's politicians face

Part of our job?

ABOVE: Current Kilkenny County Councillors at their inaugural meeting in 2019

“The abuse that comes online, some people say it’s part of our job. To say the least it’s very unsettling, you’d want to be very thick skinned,” said Cllr Martin Brett.

“It’s been a pet hate of mine for many years. If I call you a name you can sue me, but people feel free to write what they want on social media, and there is no comeback in any shape or form. It’s totally reprehensible.”

The Kilkenny City councillor said that while social media can be an outlet for a lot of good things, it can also be an outlet for hate.
“As a person who engages with the public it’s frightening to watch the torrent that can emanate from a single comment.”

He pointed out that because of online abuse, social media is losing its importance as a tool for local councillors. “If you went back one or two elections ago, social media was of paramount importance. Very few public representatives are engaging on social media now. It’s toxic.”

If people operated on the basis of ‘do unto others as you would have them do to you’ things would be better, he added.
“Most of us use social media to get our message out there, but we are afraid of it. It has to be tackled. There has to be legislation brought in for social media.”

It’s not just social media being used to have a go at councillors. One North Kilkenny councillor thought she’d mostly avoided the problem but just last week was reduced to tears by a nasty phone call.

Cllr Mary Hilda Cavanagh is one of the longest serving councillors not only in Kilkenny, but in all of Ireland. She describes herself as someone who only uses Facebook to wish people a happy birthday. While people tell her about the nastiness online, she said there are people who give out, but they give out about all politicians.

Up to last week, Cllr Cavanagh said the only ‘horrific’ incident she had experienced with members of the public was during protests in Kilkenny about the construction of the Central Access Scheme.
But just a few days later the North Kilkenny councillor had an unsettling experience. A phonecall, from someone she knew, that she described as ‘extra nasty’. Emotions are running high because of a wind farm plan, in the area, and nasty calls are now ‘coming thick and fast’.

Cllr John Coonan said his training as a health professional has helped him deal with tense situations, but it doesn’t mean he, or others, are not affected by abuse.
He said the intimidation he faced during one local election was ‘frightening’.

No trolls here
There is another group of councillors in Kilkenny who have made the conscious decision to step back from social media because of the abuse that occurs there.

“I don’t need to bring the trolls along,” Cllr Patrick O’Neill said, explaining that he now does very little on social media.
“I just avoid it because I had enough of people being not nice. I don’t bring it into my life.

“I have seen what others go through. I don’t bring it on myself, don’t publicise on Facebook. If there’s a debate going on locally I don’t give my opinion. I learned to stay out of it because you’re not going to win. I avoid it because I see how others are treated,” Cllr O’Neill explained.
The flip side of this is that he accepts he may be missing out, but he’s happy to do his work quietly and that the constituents who need him know where to find him.

It’s similar to the approach being taken by Cllr Eamon Aylward. “I don’t put myself out there on social media. I do miss out on building a profile, particularly with the younger generation, but to me, personally, safety outweighs that.”

He might put up a notice of a local road closure, but he doesn’t engage on social media.
“I would have the odd comment but everyone gets them, you could be a ref or a team manager,” he said, pointing out it’s not just politicians who are abused on social media channels.”

Facing the public
The greater impact of this abuse trend is that it will discourage people from standing for election or even working in ‘public-facing’ jobs.
“People in business, media, and other walks of life have to put up with intimidating behaviour. We all need to be protected,” Cllr John Coonan said.

“It’s a frightening situation. I do feel we are making a situation where ordinary people will not want to go into public life or a job where you are facing the public,” Cllr Brett agreed.
“As a result of the access people have to social media people are afraid to make decisions, they will be taken asunder.”

Leaving politics
Chairman of Kilkenny County Council, Cllr Pat Fitzpatrick is also the chairman of the Association of Irish Local Government, a national representative body for local councillors.
When he spoke to the Kilkenny People, last week, he had just made a phone call to a councillor, in another part of the country, who had resigned her seat.

It’s not an unusual situation now. Cllr Peter Cleere also told of councillors he knows someone who will not be standing in the next local election because of the abuse they are getting. (Not in the Kilkenny constituency).
“It’s not justifiable. It affects your mental health and family,” he said.

Cllr Fitzpatrick has experienced late night phone calls. “Nasty stuff, no ID,” he described. He also had what he calls ‘kick back’ on social media.
Cllr Cleere said that while he has never had a problem with someone face-to-face, he knows he is ‘fair game’ as a public figure. But, he said, when it comes to a person’s family that’s where the line is drawn. “Have a shot at the person, but family is where that line is.”

Stand for election?
“I don’t know if I, in conscience, can ask someone to stand for election,” Cllr Maria Dollard admitted, even as she prepared to take part in a See Her Elected seminar to encourage more women to enter politics. It’s something she believes strongly in but is conflicted, and says at the moment her heart isn’t in it.
“How could you go to someone in the community and ask them to run?”

The abuse directed at councillors seems to be getting worse. “It starts at a very low level and escalates. From a political point of view it starts with people feeling politicians are fair game for anything and then goes on to personalised attacks.”

She said politics has gotten ‘really edgy’.
Cllr Dollard lives with her family, including her husband and grown up sons.
“If I was a young woman or lived on my own, or if it was just me and Lucy, I would be too nervous to be in politics. It’s a feeling of being vulnerable,” she said.

“I always actively encourage people to get involved. But when we see things like this happening to me and others, how on earth do we expect them to get involved?,” Cllr Deirdre Cullen echoed.

Why is it so hard to be kind and show respect online?

Robust Debate
No councillor or TD is afraid of robust debate, but they point out there is a line that can be crossed, when it becomes personal abuse, or when families are subjected to intimidation.
“I’d never be afraid of open debate or good, hard discussion, that’s democracy. The line is when it interferes with your life,” Cllr Coonan said.

“There are occasions when people want to hold politicians to account, and it’s important we should be, but how you hold them to account is where the line can be crossed on occasion,” Cllr David Fitzgerald said.
“People should understand that while they disagree with somebody or don’t accept where they’re coming from, it doesn’t give them the right to publicly abuse them.”

There seem to be some people who specialise in trying to catch councillors out and go online to criticise a response, or lack of response, to an email, he said. “I’m pretty experienced at this stage, I can tell or get a sense whether an email is genuine or not. Have avoided it the best I can.”

He stressed that the vast majority of people are very respectful of public representatives, something many of his colleagues agree with.
“Generally the public have been very supportive and understand the job of a local representative,” county council cathaoirleach Pat Fitzpatrick said.