Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has accused Sinn Féin of “weaponising social media”, in a remark charecterised by the opposition party as “nonsensical”.
Mr Donnelly was speaking to reporters about abuse politicians face online and in person.
It follows reports that his colleagues raised concerns at the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting over the safety of politicians, particularly over the Kildare Street entrance to Leinster House.
Asked if he shared those fears, Mr Donnelly said there was a “general concern across western democracies” about the safety of politicians.
“We’ve seen murder in the UK. There’s a general sense that there is a level of hostility now towards elected representatives that probably hasn’t been seen in a very long time.
“It’s a very concerning trend.”
In his long, wide-ranging response to the question, he also said there were “a lot of questions” about Sinn Féin’s use of social media.
“I’ve no problem saying that I believe Sinn Féin have weaponised social media.
“I believe they have had a very sophisticated campaign for many, many years now. We know that their Facebook pages were administered out of Eastern Europe and there were all sorts of questions people asked about that.”
He later added: “It’s not all Sinn Féin, obviously.”
A Sinn Féin spokesman said the comments were “ridiculous”.
“These are nonsensical comments. Stephen Donnelly is well aware that Sinn Féin politicians have not alone faced serious threats, but have been the subject of serious attacks.
“Ridiculous remarks like this should be beneath a government minister.”
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Mr Donnelly said there was a need to look at online messaging and how targeted advertising works.
“The fact that there is very little log of what individuals see, there’s very little ability to verify what people see.
“And ultimately, people are engaging with each other in a way online that simply didn’t happen before.”
He said members of the Oireachtas had received death threats and female politicians in particular had called out abuse they face.
“It’s not acceptable, so I think there is a role for the Oireachtas to step up for this.”
Mr Donnelly added that social media companies have a role to play in combatting the abuse.
However, he added: “I would question how seriously some of them take that responsibility in allowing the sort of hatred and violence and threats happen.
“I think, therefore, the concerns that are being expressed in terms of the real world – my belief rightly or wrongly – is that is largely influenced, it is reality now [imitating] the online world.”
He said talk around Leinster House from all political parties is that there is concern of the impact on people they want to run for local elections next year.
“They are taking a look, seeing a level of abuse online. They’re seeing hostility now in the real world at a level that certainly hasn’t been seen in a long time.
“We need to be very careful about it.”
