Tánaiste Simon Harris has expressed fears that Ireland will wake up one morning and “something will have gone wrong”, describing toxicity in public discourse as “off the Richter scale.”
Mr Harris said he is no longer willing to ignore threats made to his family following several recent incidents.
On Monday, reports revealed that a threat had been made against Mr Harris and his young children. It is believed this included a kidnap threat.
The threat appeared on social media. Gardaí arrested a woman in her 30s on Monday, but she was later released without charge. A file has been sent to the DPP.
Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Harris said he is no longer prepared to “gloss over” about the threats and warned that they must be taken seriously.
“Up until now, the approach that I and many other public representatives have taken is to kind of take a vow of dignified silence when this happens,” the Tánaiste said.
“I’m not willing to do that anymore.
“I think it’s becoming somewhat normalised now, and I don’t say this just directly to the media at all.
“Politician gets threat. You guys [the media] write about it. Highlight it.
“A couple of days later, the world moves on and off we go again.
“Couple of months later, another threat comes. It’s getting worse.
“This is not about protest or robust debate. I love robust debate; it’s not about that at all.
“But you know, when you take out your phone, you see a threat against your child. that’s something nobody should have to experience. Nobody should have to tolerate.
“It’s not something I’m willing to just gloss over. I’m not willing to normalise it and say, ‘Just because I am in public life.”
Simon Harris said some people with extreme views online are trying to ‘distort legitimate public debate’ (PA)
The Tánaiste said people across both Government and opposition have received threats, and he would feel the same regardless of who was targeted.
Mr Harris also raised concerns about the term “online threat,” arguing that it makes no difference whether threats occur online or in person — both must be taken seriously.
He continued: “You cannot threaten to hurt or harm or kill or kidnap or abduct or grab anybody. Simple.
“I do genuinely believe, and there’s no easy answers to any of this, but I do genuinely believe the toxicity in public discourse and online is completely it’s gone completely off the Richter scale.
“I’m speaking out of this. I didn’t intend it, but I am actually on behalf of everybody in public life, Government, opposition, backbench TDs, backbench senators.
“I fear one day we’re going to wake up in this country and something would have gone wrong.
“It has to be taken seriously. It has to be taken extraordinarily seriously.”
The Tánaiste added that “we have 20th-century law enforcement in the 21st-century” and said policymakers must ensure stronger regulation of social media.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin, meanwhile, said there is a “coarseness in public discourse that is very worrying,” arguing that the level of tolerance for online debate has become “limiting and restrictive.”
He also expressed concern about migration debates online, calling them “appalling.”
“It creates an atmosphere which then can lead to assault and to violence against innocent people, false narratives and so forth,” he said.
“There is an onus on all of us, collectively, to resist this and to challenge it. And you know, the government will be robust on this.
“The Government will be robust on this.”
The Tánaiste has previously faced several online and in-person threats and protests. Protesters once gathered outside his Wicklow home.
In June 2024, a bomb threat against the Tánaiste’s home was later confirmed as a hoax.