A man suspected of making online threats to shoot Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris following violence in Coolock, Dublin, has been arrested by gardaí.
The man (28), from west Dublin, was arrested and taken for questioning by members of the Special Detective Unit, which is responsible for matters of State security, on Thursday.
Despite wearing a makeshift balaclava while issuing the threats on the social media platform TikTok, the man was quickly identified by gardaí as a result of the personal details he posted online. The man is well known to gardaí and has appeared in court on a number of occasions in relation to violent offences.
In the video, since removed from TikTok, a man threatened violence against Ms McDonald and Mr Harris while expressing support for people engaged in disturbances outside proposed asylum seeker accommodation in Coolock.
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“Gardaí have arrested a man in his 20s as part of their investigation. The man is currently detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 at a Garda station in the [Dublin Metropolitan Region],” the force said in a statement.
Gardaí have become increasingly concerned in recent months about the potential for violence directed at political figures by far-right extremists. Protection measures for Cabinet members have been increased and security advice has been provided to elected representatives.
Speaking on Thursday morning, Ms McDonald said she was determined not to let the death threat deter. The Dublin Central TD said the experience had been “very frightening” but she was thankful for public support and was now “calling out” threats and vilification on social media.
“I’ve had a year of it, of being trashed and vilified. It’s politically inspired. I’m sick of it,” she told Newstalk Breakfast.
Ms McDonald criticised social media platforms for allowing such content to go unchecked while the accounts of democratically elected people were blocked from displaying political content.
“There’s material in circulation, not just on TikTok, but other social media platforms and I scratch my head and wonder how, in the name of God, any platform that’s moderated in any way, becomes a vector for the level of hate and at the level of misinformation, the level of viciousness.”
The Sinn Féin leader said being challenged and criticised was part of the job, but there had been a particularly vicious focus on her and her party in the last year. She said there was clear attempt to “alienate sentiment, particularly in working class areas, to brand me as a traitor, to brand Sinn Féin as a traitor”.
She added: “But this particular incident brought it then to another level. And as far as I’m concerned, every line has now been crossed. Once there is a direct threat made openly, brazenly broadcast on social media that a person will shoot you, that they will take your life, and that they feel comfortable saying that, broadcasting it, announcing it to the world. Clearly, that puts you in the in the way of greater danger. And I find that frightening.”
The incident would “absolutely not” make her think of stepping back from politics, Ms McDonald added.
“If anything, it makes me all the more determined to be part of facing this toxic dynamic down with others ... We cannot allow the toxic legacy of hate to win.”
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