THE TASKFORCE ON Safe Participation in Political Life will meet for its first main meeting today.

The taskforce, established by  Ceann Comhairle, Deputy Séan Ó Fearghaíl, and the Cathaoirleach, Senator Jerry Buttimer, will examine the matter and make proposals on how to safeguard and support participation and promote civil discourse in political life.

A final report will be presented to the Ceann Comhairle and the Cathaoirleach no later than 31 December 2023.

The 16-member task force is made up of TDs, senators, councillors, journalists, and members of organisation and representation groups. 

Taskforce members include: 

• Labour Leader Ivana Bacik
• CEO of Women for Election Caitríona Gleeson
• Independent TD Cathal Berry
• Sinéad McSweeney, formerly of Twitter
• Irish Examiner Political Correspondent Ciara Phelan
• Ann-Marie O’Sullivan – Founder and Chief Executive, AM O’Sullivan PR
• Cllr John-Kingsley Onwumereh –Fingal County Councillor
• Jennifer Murnane O’Connor TD
• Sorca Clarke TD
• Gabrielle McFadden, Former Senator
• Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Minister of State
• Nicola Kelly – Development Worker, Inner City Organisations Network (ICON)
• Fiona O’Loughlin, Senator
• Frances Black, Senator
• Lisa Chambers, Senator
• Micheál Carrigy, Senator.

The Chair of the Task Force is Noirín O’Sullivan, former Garda Commissioner, and United Nations Assistant Secretary General for Safety and Security.  

The aim of the group is to discuss the significant level of abuse, including online abuse, and harassment experienced by those who participate in political life, particularly how this abuse disproportionately impacts women. 

Abuse and harassment 

The task force will will hold formal meetings from the autumn to consider, under its terms of reference, “measures to address the problem of abuse and harassment within political life”.

The key topics for the group include: 

• The prevalence of abuse and harassment for those who participate in political life in Ireland.
• Experiences of abuse and harassment.
• Impacts (on the person, the institution and political life) of abuse and harassment.
• Mitigation measures – Measures available to prevent abuse/harassment, protect and support those who experience abuse/harassment, and respond to it, including international measures
• Role of social media platforms in online abuse/harassment and measure they take to address it.
• Role of the Houses of the Oireachtas and political parties in addressing abuse/harassment and promoting civil discourse.

The task force will also look at public policy, including legislation, to safeguard and support those in political life. 

Submissions from various groups will be sought and discussed, as the task force sees fits, with proposed groups to meet with the task force including representatives from the gardaí, the National Women’s Council, representatives from the Jo Cox Foundation, and representatives from Twitter and Meta. 

The first two items on the agenda for September include assessing the experience and impact of abuse and harassment for those who participate in political life in Ireland and also a panel discussion of personal  experiences of abuse and harassment.

The task force will also discuss the role of social media platforms in online abuse/harassment and the measures they take to address it.

Over recent years a number of Irish female politicians have spoken out about the level of abuse directed at them. 

Minister of State Anne Rabbitte wrote in The Journal about threats she has received while in office.

She described a late-night phone call she received in 2019, after speaking in support of farmers during the beef protests, when a caller told her to keep away from the issue or  “we’ll come for you”. 

Rabbitte reported the call to gardaí and to be safe, she and her three children moved out of their home for several days afterwards. 

Former Senator Lorraine Higgins has spoken previously about the death threats that pushed her out of politics.

Holly Cairns, Social Democrats leader, has also been on the receiving end of sexist commentary and says there needs to be better ways to deal with it so that it doesn’t deter women from running for office.

Back in 2016, Former Tánaiste and Labour Party leader Joan Burton penned an op-ed for the Sunday Independent about how the killing of British MP Jo Cox exposes unbridled misogyny against women online.

Recently, a 62-page DCU report identified a broad range of types of online hostility encountered by women journalists in Ireland.