Simon Harris death threat

hotmail.com

A serious and disturbing death threat has been made against the Taoiseach and his wife and 2 children. It took Instagram 2 days to take the video down. What is going on in this country?

http://www.rte.ie/news/2024/0806/1463665-taoiseach-threat/

Galwayguy35

We will have to do the same as in other European countries and beef up security around the leaders of the country.

Sure most of it is just some loon blowing off steam but as we saw in the UK with the murders of Jo Cox and David Amess it only takes one person who is prepared to act out on what they are threatening to do.

markodaly

What has happened?

We have left a subculture of scumbags off with impunity for decades, that is what has happened. Their balls are just getting bigger.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122469867#Comment_122469867

Its kind of amazing it hasn't happened up until now. Although it being Ireland not that amazing. Helen McEntee needed a security detail to wander about Talbot street a few months ago.

The people have been asking for more gardai and more resources for months if not years now, maybe something like this *might* actually make it happen.

One eyed Jack

What is going on in this country?

Nothing that hasn’t always been going on in this country -

https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2023/0216/1357016-irish-politics-politicians-abuse-threats-murder-online-campaigns/

MegamanBoo

I think we're looking at some form of terrorist attack here within the next year if not sooner.

I post a lot in the immigration thread and the rhetoric has really changed recently. There's a lot of talk about the need for violence, race war etc. I think there's been a realization there's going to be no mass movement behind them as per the water charges, and there'll be no u-turn from the government following the riots and IPA attacks we've had already.

I couldn't say how many, but there are people in this country who genuinely believe it's up to them to defend their communities and culture from some sort of 'invasion'. They believe violence is justified in their cause. I don't know how prepared they are but an attack on a politician or possibly a gun/bomb attack on an immigration center is what I think they'll attempt.

Cluedo Monopoly

We need to fix our shoddy and slow justice system, create more prison cells and make prison a real deterrent. None of that will happen anytime soon.

Avatar in the Post

I attended a meal and address by Leo Varadkar a few years back in Drimoland. The security was practically zero. We arrived late, there were two gardai sitting in a car outside, near the entrance.

I saw no other obvious security inside.

There was no staff anywhere to be found. We initially found one internal entrance that brought us up a level above where Leo was speaking at a lectern. He was about 15 metres away mid speech. It was dark up there and my immediate thought, this is surreal, what if…

I thought it a horrendous lack of security and have often thought about it since. Hopefully Simon has far better security by now.

Wanderer78

inevitable but still disgraceful, our political institutions have been failing to meet the needs of a rapidly growing number for decades now, they dont seem to understand whats going on, and how to appropriately react to these needs, we re in big trouble, the center is crumbling, and now people are flocking to the extremes to force change, this is gonna get very very nasty!

Wanderer78

…legal action is a terrible deterrent, as sections of society simply dont care for it, you could threaten the death penalty and there simply wouldnt be a reaction from them…..

Psychedelic Hedgehog

There is going to have to be a serious crackdown on usage and accountability from both a personal and corporate level on social media.

I feel the human race has proved itself inadequate to use these tools in a mature and responsible manner.

Avatar in the Post

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122470023#Comment_122470023

we have had elections recently, on what basis do you breathlessly say the centre is crumbling? The recent elections established by and large the continuation of centrist politics.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122470292#Comment_122470292

…the center doesnt really understand whats going on, its approaches towards meeting our needs is clearly failing, and failing very badly, they simply dont have any solutions to our most critical of issues, and in fact many of their polices are actually amplifying these problems. many that are now taking to the streets feel completely disconnected from our political system, feeling it simply does not represent its interests, and theyre not wrong, the centers in trouble, and its now deciding to move even more slightly towards these extremes, in relation to immigration polices etc, this is gonna get very very messy….

…our election system will fail again at the next ge, simply not reflecting the concerns of these individuals, resulting in even more instability, as its highly likely we ll end up with the same or very similar government after the ge, i.e. not actually representing these individuals and groups….

..a quirk of the pr-stv system is that major parties such as ffg can actual effectively dictated government formations, which is exactly whats currently happening, and will more than likely occur after the next ge again, ffg will attempt to lock out any major changes of government, and its very likely theyll succeed again, which means those feeling left out, will just keep escalating, until……

talla10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122469891#Comment_122469891

Can't give what we don't have. For a multitude of reasons a career in AGS isn't nearly as attractive as it was in decades gone by when they 20,000 applying for relatively small amount of positions. In addition the Criminal Justice System doesn't protect society from the worst of society with suspended sentences or lenient sentencing, temporary release and lack of prison spaces.

Avatar in the Post

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122470339#Comment_122470339

Sorry, you’re going to be disappointed. A rent a crowd is never going to take power or really influence opinion. Especially while we are in the EU and its incumbent rules. SF have failed to make the once prophesied.

Goldengirl

I don't believe the centre is the problem nor that these people who are violent and making threats of violence are experiencing anything that we as a people have not experienced before through much worse conditions and recessions.

The difference is hype on social media and to a large extent groups of people who are being manipulated into believing a multitude of conspiracy theories and whipped up into a frenzy by some nefarious individuals and movements that benefit from anarchy and riot and anti democracy .

Various social media platforms are being used by these individuals to spread what used to be termed as propaganda and it is directed at people who are vulnerable and/or disenfranchised and have no moderating content to encourage rational clear thinking

Look at the recent implosion of the " Coolock says no " protest group . Following a lead from a right wing group with links to some extreme British neo Nazis , joining protests in Belfast thinking they were ' uniting against a common enemy ' with those that would burn the tricolour on their bonfires ..

What a travesty!

And that group are rightly now exposed and rejected by their own community back here who told them where to go in the Phoenix Park yesterday .

https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/protesters-clash-outside-garda-hq-29683488

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122469981#Comment_122469981

Our justice is no different to any other EU state, apart from it being a common law system versus a civil law system. Justice is slow and it should be slow, there should be no rush to judgement.

The founders of the state made a very conscious decision that the state would be policed at the will of the people, not the point of a gun. And that means we must do our part, racists and thugs should be under no illusion about who we feel about their ideas, nonsense and tugger and if necessary they should be aware that we will act in defence of our democracy.

This is not the first time the our democracy has been challenged nor even the worst time. It was dealt with back then and I have no doubt it will be this time too.

MegamanBoo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122470525#Comment_122470525

It will be dealt with eventually but I get a feeling we're not taking the threat seriously enough and very under-resourced in key areas.

From what I gathered in the aftermath of the Dublin riot there was only one Garda trying to keep up with social media that day. Going by the report on links in the IT to the links to US terrorist groups Gardai are still under resourced to what's happening online.

https://www.newstalk.com/news/ex-kkk-grand-dragon-helping-very-extreme-irish-activists-1748656

It would look to me too that our offences against the state act needs to brought up to date, for one things it's based around proscribed groups, whereas it looks like todays threat comes more from looser social media affiliations.

Whether the proposed hate speech bill went too far I don't know, but I think we need to be doing something too about the people egging on these thugs online.

markodaly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122469895#Comment_122469895

100 years ago the country was in a literal civil war.

If you think that is the benchmark we should measure ourselves, then you are deluded.

Will_I_Amnt

I remember when Micheal Martin was Taoiseach, he blagged on about how great it was that he could walk out of Government buildings on his own at lunch time, head down the street to the deli to get his salad and walk back again and didn't have to worry about security like some of his counterparts elsewhere coz….shur….we're a great little country.

I wonder if Simon Harris (and all other politicians) are still doing that now? I'd rather they didn't!

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122470371#Comment_122470371

I know all that. Maybe now that the most powerful person in the land has been theatened, he might get off his arse and do something about it.

StormForce13

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122471160#Comment_122471160

You mean like enlisting more members of the Garda Siochana at gunpoint because they can't attract enough new recruits? Or building a couple of shiny new prisons overnight?

The problems that we have here are long-term ones, caused by a combination of poor strategic planning and political cowardice; and they can't and won't be solved overnight.

Looking at the prison issue, I suspect that a combination of political short-termism, NIMBYism and a genuine fear of the State undertaking any large construction project after the NCH fiasco means that there's not much chance of a new prison being built in the next decade.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122471205#Comment_122471205

Can you indicate where in my posts I suggested it could or should be fixed overnight?

None of the problems Ireland is currently facing have a quick solution, but the first step in solving any problem is acknowledging there is one.

endacl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122470339#Comment_122470339

Theyll ‘just keep escalating’ until they cop on and take advantage of the myriad opportunities for self-improvement and advancement available to every citizen of the state for decades. Those who chose to remain pointless little scumbags can fcuk right the fcuk off. There ain’t no oppressed mass like a self-selected 6th generation oppressed mass.

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122470838#Comment_122470838

Good thing then that I didn’t mention anything about Civil War, but rather I was pointing out that Simon Harris and his family receiving death threats is not new.

The OP seems to think there’s something new or unique going on in this country, when it’s actually not at all unique or unusual, and the article I provided, demonstrates evidence that there’s nothing new just because Simon Harris and his family have now been threatened.

Leo Varadkar too received several credible death threats during his time:

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41232412.html

The point is, it’s not new, and it’s certainly not anything that would have me wonder what’s going on in this country, as though Simon Harris and his family receiving death threats has set a new bar for scumbag behaviour.

nacho libre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122471232#Comment_122471232

https://www.garda.ie/en/contact-us/station-directory/ballaghaderreen.html

monseiur

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122470000#Comment_122470000

Shock horror, imagine if there was an attempt made to assassinate him. The world's stock market would go into meltdown, the price of crude oil on the spot market would rocket, the value of the Euro would go into free fall, a world wide recession would ensue, the world would be on the precipice of nuclear armageddon …………OH it doesn't bear thinking about

Seriously, who would even waste a rotten egg on the buffoon, his policies and that of Roderick o Gorman will have serious long term negative implications on social cohesion in our communities. As for the minister for justice…..God help us all.

Downlinz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122469969#Comment_122469969

1. Prisons are full, we're already letting those on unprovoked murder charges out on bail like the lad who attacked the Croatians. There's no room to fill prisons with twitter trolls making threats from their mother's basement.
2. Stopping all welfare for those already comfortable breaking laws is just a recipe for increased crime and theft. They aren't just going to sit at home hungry and think about what they've done.
3. The Gardaí are already too understaffed to have a visible presence on streets across the country, where are these extra forces investigating family members and combing social networks going to be magicked up from?
4. Dismantling misinformation networks goes beyond the power of the state and there's no will to change that, our government isn't going to risk investment and employment by compelling multinationals to do anything. Just yesterday Micheál was complaining that X was refusing to delete content requested by Gardai and he intends to do nothing about it.

MegamanBoo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122471425#Comment_122471425

There's been Garda stations shut in small towns and villages since the recession.

Nobody's been threatening terrorism on the basis of it.

Not to mind that every time the public order unit are needed, which is every other day lately, working Gardai are called off the streets.

Sponge25

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122469867#Comment_122469867

Humans are short sighted and only plan for the short term, for an substantial increase in security there would have to be a tragic event as an impetus. I got extremely angry with how short sighted people are but what can I do…

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122469969#Comment_122469969

Spot on Bobson. The toerag that made this threat has no doubt been spoon fed by the state from the day he was born, has likely never contributed anything positive to society and is most likely a serious sponge on our country's resources.

Somebody will say I'm generalising, but I'd gladly bet that this perpetrator is yet another "unemployed" clown who was educated in the school of life and hard knocks. Like the fella who drive around the city causing carnage last week. Like the fella who murdered his girlfriend in Cork last week.

What is it about the unemployed that with all the spare time on their hands they can't contribute in a positive manner to this country, while those of us who go to work every day to pay for their HAP and "jobseekers" have to put up with this crap being a frequent occurrence in the news.

Ha Long Bay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122471516#Comment_122471516

Promoting death of elected officials? Stay classy.

nacho libre

I wasn't trying to be a smartass,Covid19. I genuinely thought it was still open. That's why I googled it, not to try and catch you out. That page should be updated to reflects its status.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122471425#Comment_122471425

MegamanBoo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122471425#Comment_122471425

Are you sure it's shut?

Going by these dail questions from just a month ago there's 8 Gardai currently assigned there.

Might be only open reduced hours but a lot of rural towns don't even have that.

Cutting back rural stations has actually been going on since before the recession, but certainly increased then. Again no threats of terrorism until the last year or so.

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/question/2024-07-03/137/

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122470023#Comment_122470023

No one is "flocking" anywhere near this scum.

The recent local elections showed that.

The crap here in recent days and indeed in the UK is a direct result of their complete failure at the ballot box.

They don't have meaningful support levels so they resort to the only thing they understand, violence.

suvigirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122469891#Comment_122469891

There will be less Gardai if they up the numbers employed on protection duties.

suvigirl

Fair more likely one of those non nationals gets injured or killed.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122471232#Comment_122471232

JP Liz V1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122471981#Comment_122471981

What about using the army if not enough AGS, is there also still AGS reserves and army reserves?

suvigirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122471620#Comment_122471620

It is open. It just isn't a 24 hour station

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122471981#Comment_122471981

Not if they fixed some of the issues with the Gardai. Though I wasn't talking about the protection detail.

I was talking about the country growing the fu*k up and providing decent protection to its heads of state, as well as decent protection for its citizens, and decent protection for the nation.

MegamanBoo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122471497#Comment_122471497

I'll take up a few of these.

1. Prisons are full. It looks long since time to build a new one, possibly grounds for some emergency space with recent threat. Not everyone stoking violence on twitter would need a prison sentence. I'd say threat of criminal record and publicity would shut a few up anyway.
2. I largely agree. Especially cutting welfare where there's a family has a risk.
3. Let civilians do it with Garda supervision. It's still hard to get civilians these days but I'd think easier than Gardai.
4. Agreed that's something that has to come from Europe, not that we shouldn't push on some social media companies but it's unrealistic to expect it.

I appreciate there's a lot of challenges but we're nearly a year on from the riot and it's clear there's a longer term need. I'd hoped to have seen some progress by now, and tbh I'm surprised with the threat to politicians themselves there hasn't been.

tayto lover

The Gardai will have this lad in custody in a very short time. They have the means to trace him and bring him to justice. It's up to the judiciary then. He should get a good sentence.

ElitesTeam

I say its fake death treats to rally support as harris is an uneducated tictoc fool. So much hyperbole in this thread. touch grass

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122473092#Comment_122473092

Not that uneducated that he would make a dogs dinner of spelling TikTok.

prunudo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122473092#Comment_122473092

More non-credible than fake, these guys are doing it for attention. But the media and government are stoking this, with the language they use. These fools were probably always mouthing off online, but now there is more focus on them. By all means the gardai should be investigating, but keep it out of the media so not to feed the trolls.

Mr. teddywinkles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122471205#Comment_122471205

Maybe make it financally more attractive. No guns needed🙄

RobbieTheRobber

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122470339#Comment_122470339

Ah I see the silent majority fallacy will be parroted indefinitely. Great news.

Furze99

I heard McEntee and several others banging on about this recently. The story is being amplified in the media to help support the case that the government wishes to legislate to control social media and target what they term hate speech.

suvigirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122473140#Comment_122473140

So now, we.should control what the media publish?

Jeez, this is all very confusing

StormForce13

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122471219#Comment_122471219

Can you indicate where in your post you acknowledged that these were long term problems not capable of instant solution?

Because, being a tad dyslexic, I'm not very good at reading between the lines of others' comments.

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122473612#Comment_122473612

I'm incredibly anti censorship and as much as the hate speech bill makes me uncomfortable, do you not think something needs to be done? At the moment online agitators are running absolutely riot, look what's happening in the north and in the UK. We've people making online threats to heads of state within our own country.

Further afield, you've Musk on twitter basically calling for civil war in Europe. Bots and god knows what brainwashing the 'lesser educated' on Facebook to the point of believing insane conspiracy theories.

Again, I am 100% for internet freedom, but I do think some kind of repercussions need to be put in place to stem all this craziness and stupidity. What form that takes though, I could not tell you.