50 incidents of threat, abuse and harassment reported by politicians in run up to General Election

Over 50 incidents of threats, abuse and harassment are reported to have been made to politicians in the lead up to the General Election.

A joint investigation by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and the Hope & Courage Collective documented 55 incidents including 4 violent offline actions.

90 per cent of the incidents used social media to spread rhetoric, hate or smear campaigns against candidates.

Politicians such as Pearse Doherty, Helen McEntee, John McGahon, and Mary Lou McDonald were also targets of ‘offline’ harassment.