![\"Tanaiste](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/070c12c1-8a5f-4d82-ad5a-da697f711bc7.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIt is understood that a person close to Mr Harris was issued with \u201cvile and sinister\u201d threats online and described of a \u201cdisturbing nature\u201d, which initiated a specialist garda probe.<\/p>\n
The threats were issued on Friday and the Special Detective Unit (SDU) is now investigating.<\/p>\n
It is understood that Gardai are currently preparing to secure a court order to try and identify the IP address of the person who issued the latest threats.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tanaiste Simon Harris (PA)<\/p>\n
Today’s News in 90 seconds – 6th September 2025 <\/p>\n
In relation to the latest threat, following other sinister threats against his children last week, Mr Harris said: \u201cWhat I and my family have faced in recent weeks is not political debate. It is abuse. It is intimidation. It is behaviour that should never, ever be treated as normal. And no one is to blame except those choosing to abuse and make threats. \u201cThe threats made against my family are having deeply distressing consequences. Last week, direct threats were made against my children. And now, this weekend, late last night, vile and horrific threats were directed at a very close family member.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that he was concerned about a \u201cpattern\u201d in relation to the threats.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a clear and sinister pattern and a very apparent motivation; to intimidate me out of public office.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elite garda from the SDU branch have this weekend \u201cupped the ante\u201d of the Tanaiste\u2019s personal security and that of his family.<\/p>\n
Local gardai in Wicklow, where Mr Harris lives with his family, have been made aware of the latest threat.<\/p>\n
Mr Harris added: \u201cAs I said in recent days, I know we are meant to keep silent. I know for some it seems like a new reality that those in public life must accept. But I cannot. “It is me today but it will be someone else tomorrow. Over the coming days and weeks, I will consult with my Fine Gael, Government and broader political colleagues about these threats and intimidation online and what action we can and should take.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone has to call a halt. Protecting my family will remain my number one priority. I will be guided by them on the next steps.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Garda’s Special Detective Unit is tasked with investigating extreme political activism and threats to the State and is leading the criminal investigation.<\/p>\n
A statement has been taken from Mr Harris and the members of his family.<\/p>\n
It is understood that the threat of violence against the Tanaiste\u2019s close family member was made on the Meta platform.<\/p>\n
The person who the threats were levelled against is not a public figure and does not have an open or public profile on social media.<\/p>\n
It is the second such threat made this week on the Meta platform against Mr Harris and his family.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, a woman in her 30s was arrested and questioned about threats to the family issued on Instagram last weekend.<\/p>\n
She was released without charge pending a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions.<\/p>\n
Mr Harris described threats against politicians as “unacceptable” and threats against children as “despicable”.<\/p>\n
Meta said it had removed that threat earlier this week and removes all such threats.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt Meta, we do not allow threats of violence on our platforms. We remove content and accounts that break our rules, as we have done in this case, and are continuing to work closely with law enforcement,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is understood that a person close to Mr Harris was issued with \u201cvile and sinister\u201d threats online…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,898,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-5153","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-latest-news-ticker","11":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}