Lorraine Higgins claims ‘death threat’ during election campaign

Labour Party senator and MEP candidate Lorraine Higgins said she has reported to gardaí "death threats" allegedly made to her on Facebook last Friday, the day of the local and European Parliament vote.

Ms Higgins said she could not “say for sure” where the threat came from .

The pattern had begun “a number of weeks ago” and had intensified in the last week, culiminating in a death threat on Friday.

She was speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Sean O’Rourke programme.

Asked if she had any idea where the threat had come from, Ms Higgins, who was eliminated on the second count of the ballot for the Midlands North-West constituency, said: “I haven’t but I’ve reported it to the gardaí.”

“I was told, essentially, that I was going to be hatcheted in the face as a way of murdering me.

“That’s not it verbatim, but words to that effect. I could trace the person who said it based on his Facebook profile and that information is now with the gardaí.”

Ms Higgins added that the individual “certainly had links to a political party and was a supporter of a political party based on his friends on Facebook”.

When it was put to her that no political party “would stand over that carry on”, she added: “Well, I would hope not but I think it was absolutely disgraceful that following my appearance on Prime Time I was subjected to the most horrendous abuse on Facebook and Twitter and I think this is no way for people to exercise their opinions.

“There is a democratic process in place and if they want to oppose me, (let them) put themselves forward for election.”

Ms Higgins had not reported the threats to the parties whose supporters were allegedly involved in the threat, she said she had not in the course of the election campaign.

“I did ring the the gardaí on Friday myself, I met with two members of the force on Friday evening and I’m to make a formal statement to them based on what I’ve experienced.”

She believed there was “no question” that there was enough evidence to bring charges.

Speaking on the same programme, newly elected Dublin Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan said she “absolutely condemned” any death threats made on social media towards Ms Higgins. “The social media world is a nasty place,” she said.

Asked about Labour’s disastrous result in the elections, Ms Higgins said that while canvassing on the doorsteps of the 15 counties of the Midlands North West constitutency, she “didn’t get an idea that things were as bad as they were”.

“Sure, issues were brought up like water charges and medical cards but it wasn’t something I was hearing all the time. It seems to me that the electorate just sat by and decided to give us a good kick come polling day and that’s exactly what happened – we have to acknowledge that.”

She said it was “harrowing” to hear of issues relating to medical cards during canvassing “but the reality is there was a lot of scaremongering going on out there as well”.

She said she was “disappointed” with her own result but that she had “fought the good fight”.

“I did my best.”

The question of former party leader Eamon Gilmore’s leadership of the party had not come up on doorsteps, she said. “I met thousands of people across the constituency and it didn’t come up.”