Female Councillors Targeted By Harassing Calls

No male councillors have reported similar calls

Up to 70 female councillors across Ireland have been subjected to a campaign of harassing and sexually explicit phone calls from withheld numbers, the Association of Irish Local Government (AILG) has warned, urging the public not to contact elected members on private numbers.

The AILG said there were multiple instances of calls containing "disturbing and inappropriate sexual comments" to women councillors from across the political spectrum, and that the matter has been reported to gardaí. Head of Operations Elaine Lynch said the first reports came in on "last Monday week" and had increased in recent days. In one case, a councillor received a further 16 calls within an hour of answering. So far no male councillors have reported similar calls, as RTÉ reported.

Why female councillors are being targeted

Ms Lynch said the reports coming from different local authorities and parties pointed to women being deliberately targeted.

"What's particularly concerning to us is that the reports have come from different local authorities and political parties, and that suggests to us that women are being specifically targeted here," Ms Lynch said.

The AILG said it was "going public" to show women councillors they are "not facing this alone", with Ms Lynch calling the campaign "a direct attack on our local democracy". Members have been advised to avoid answering withheld numbers, not to engage with callers, to log the time of any incident and to report it to their local garda liaison officer. Follow the latest Irish news for more.

Top Story

Homelessness has risen 9% this year

A record number of 17,885 people were in emergency accommodation last month, according to the Department of Housing. The number of adults in emergency accommodation now stands at 12,055, with 5,830 children in emergency accommodation. An increase of 358 people in July, including 171 children. Of the 7,304 single adults in emergency accommodation nationally, 4,881 […]

News

2 days ago