FINE Gael councillor and Limerick mayoral candidate in the upcoming elections in June, Daniel Butler, came under fire this week when he found himself the target of malicious online trolls inviting people to smash the windows of his family home.
A number of menacing posts uploaded on social media platform TikTok with photographs of the former Limerick Mayor’s home, address, and Eircode called for “everyone to pull up and smash my windows”.
A number of fake TikTok accounts this week were created using profile photos of several local election candidates, across a number of political parties, and posting videos of vile abuse directed towards the directly-elected mayor hopeful.
As well as calling for Cllr Butler’s windows to be smashed, the online trolls, posing as local councillors and election candidates, urged viewers to verbally abuse the Fine Gael man online, as well as sharing homophobic, racist, occult, and abusive images.
With local, European, and inaugural mayoral elections looming in the coming weeks, it is understood that a number of investigation files have been submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions on threats from far-right individuals to Irish politicians, including government leaders and ministers.
In recent weeks, Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman has been the victim to intimidation from far-right figures at his home, as has Taoiseach Simon Harris.
It is unclear what steps are currently being taken to address the abuse directed towards Cllr Butler or locate the culprits.
The DEM candidate was unavailable for comment this week, however a Fine Gael spokesperson did respond to the Limerick Post when contacted.
“The party offers advice to candidates in terms of ensuring personal safety while canvassing and on the best practices online should any of our representatives encounter any online abuse,” the Fine Gael spokesperson said.
One particular intimidating and abusive social media post targeting Cllr Butler was posted online under the guise of a ‘Project X’ style party event at the City West representative’s home — named after a 2012 film that shows a band of teenagers throwing a house party that grows out of control. The post encouraged the smashing of the Fine Gael councillor’s windows and included details of his address and Eircode.
The TikTok craze has seen teens throwing wild parties and destroying property, while zooming in on areas on Google Maps to either the suggested location of a party or where they would like to host one.
The trend revolves around groups of teenagers trying to throw the wildest party imaginable. Videos have gone viral of similar parties around the world with young people scaling roofs, climbing into people’s properties, and even throwing fireworks, all while under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
The abusive posts aimed at Cllr Butler have been reported to Gardaí, who did not respond for comment at time of going to print.
