Nearly all of the minority candidates running for Ireland’s centrist Fine Gael party have been targeted by threats and racist abuse, the party has said, in what it described as a “very serious low” in the political discourse before local and European elections.
“This is appalling and must be called out for what it is – wrong, sexist and racist,” Damien English, the party’s director of elections, said in a recent statement. Sixteen of the party’s 339 candidates for upcoming elections have a migrant background.
Candidates and their families have been threatened, while some have had their children singled out and harassed at school. Others have had eggs thrown at their homes.
“Some candidates have been told to ‘fuck off back where you came from’ while they canvass or just go about their daily business,” said English. “While other candidates have also experienced fake social media accounts being set up to discredit them.”
A handful of candidates have opened up about the abuse, including Supriya Singh, a former TV producer and journalist from India, who said she had eight of her posters defaced with racist comments and had faced harassment and bullying in person and online.
“It’s been the most challenging journey of my life,” Singh, who has lived in Ireland for eight years, said on social media this week. “I hope and pray no one ever has to go through this kind of harassment.”
Arnold Guo told online newspaper The Journal that he had been standing on top of a ladder, putting up posters for his Fine Gael candidacy, when a man kicked the ladder as he shouted about Guo “not being Irish”. Guo, who is from China but has lived in Ireland for 27 years, was saved from falling by a colleague who held the ladder steady.
The abuse is not limited to Fine Gael candidates. A video making the rounds on social media last month appeared to show a man hurling a racist tirade at Fianna Fáil candidate Suzzie O’Deniyi and her canvassing team.
The incidents come as the public mood towards immigration hardens across Ireland, crystallising in a backlash that has framed the upcoming elections.
As a result, the intimidation of elected representatives has rocketed. A recent report, commissioned by the Irish legislature, concluded that “abuse in political life is prevalent, problematic and targeted disproportionately at women and minority groups.”
It urged officials to take action, given that the rising tide of intimidation and abuse stands to hinder the political participation of women, minorities and people of colour.
In the case of Fine Gael, many of those who have been targeted are first-time candidates, said English. Describing the incidents as “utterly reprehensible”, he added: “We cannot accept that this is how modern Ireland has evolved.”
The harassment has also extended to several elected councillors who have had their posters defaced, seemingly over their support for refugees fleeing war, he said.
“Public and political discourse in Ireland has reached a very serious low,” he added. “This insidious abuse of politicians and people in public life is a magnification of the day-to-day discriminations and harms that are creeping into our society.”
