A Fianna Fáil TD has made a complaint to An Garda Síochána about an online video in which he is attacked for a speech he made in the Dáil. The video includes verbal abuse and concludes with the sound of a gunshot.
Clare TD Cathal Crowe, who views the video as threatening, made the complaint at Ennis Garda station on Monday morning. The video is entitled “A warning for the woke” and in it the speaker decries “Ireland’s newfound progressive religion” and hits out at moves by the EU to strengthen laws against hate speech.
It includes a clip from a speech Mr Crowe gave in the Dáil on the issue in which the Fianna Fáil TD criticises the Irish Freedom Party and argues that it practises “hate messaging”.
The speaker in the video describes Mr Crowe as a “toxic, inarticulate piece of shit”. He accuses the politician of a belief that the Government “should implement laws which would make it impossibly difficult for those who tended towards conservatism or liberty to organise and have a representative voice in politics.”
The video ends with the sound of a gunshot after the speaker says: “So go ahead and make your laws but don’t be surprised if those of us who are willing to die for freedom and individual liberty do something that might be frowned upon along the way.”
Mr Crowe said he became aware of the video last week. He said he considers it to be threatening and on that basis he decided to make a complaint to the Garda.
“The man who has posted the video seems to take umbrage with a recent contribution I made in the Dáil chamber but there are ways of expressing umbrage without having to resort to what I consider to be threats,” said Mr Crowe.
The person believed to be behind the video has previously claimed in relation to another which concludes in a similar fashion that the gunshot at the end is not intended to be sinister.
However, Mr Crowe said“I think the gunshot is rather menacing. We need to take threats against politicians far more seriously than we would have in the past particularly in light of some recent events in the UK” — a reference to the murder last year of Conservative MP David Amess.
In a statement to The Irish Times Irish Freedom Party president Hermann Kelly said his party opposes all violence and supports free speech.
He said: “The Irish Freedom Party, as the name suggests, believes in free speech, not speech controlled by the government.
“As we advocate free speech for all and equality of all citizens before the law, we oppose the granting of certain privileges to specific identity groups selected by the government.
“Free Speech, after all, is vital to the proper functioning of an open democracy.
“As a liberal democratic party we oppose all violence and support the free speech of all citizens including Mr Crowe.”
