Garda report over threats to Athlone Minister of State

Two Ministers of State from Westmeath have spoken about receiving direct threats and personal abuse in the aftermath of the recent fuel price protests.

Athlone Minister of State Kevin 'Boxer' Moran said he had been in contact with Gardai in relation to threatening messages and "horrible" personal abuse towards him and his family, while Minister of State Robert Troy also said there had been a threat made to his office in recent days.

Speaking to the Westmeath Independent, 'Boxer' said people had sent him messages prior to last week's confidence vote on the Government in which they said they would "torture me and do various different things to me" if he didn't vote against the Government.

The Minister of State for the OPW, who vowed to continue supporting the Government through the rest of its five-year term, described the level of abuse that he and some other politicians had been receiving as completely unacceptable and said it would have the effect of driving people away from politicial involvement.

“I had a guy threatening to kill me,” said ‘Boxer’. “I had fellas threatening to come and take me out of my house and torture me and do various different things to me if I didn’t vote against the Government.”

He also mentioned an anonymous post on an Athlone Facebook group early last week which made a distasteful claim about his relationship with his wife.

“The stuff put up about me and my wife is absolutely heartbreaking. I put myself in front of the people and got elected, and to think that some people then would try and lower themselves to that level...

"That's not politics, and that's not the society that we want going forward.

"So I would reach out to people and say, you have your anger, you're annoyed, and I get all of that, but we need to collaborate and work together because we don't want to see what we have seen in the last few days.

"I love my wife, my wife and I are the best of friends, and I won't let a division come between me and my family because of politics," he said.

"This stuff of putting pictures of me dressed up in clown suits, or putting up AI impressions of me - people have to realise that when they press that button there's a person and a family on the other side of it."

'Boxer' said he had been in contact with the Gardai locally about threatening messages which he had received.

Westmeath Minister of State Robert Troy told Midlands 103 Radio in recent days that he had received a direct threat from an individual but had decided against reporting it to the Gardaí on the basis that it came from someone who had given their own name and address in the correspondence.

Speaking last week, 'Boxer' said that this had been a particularly "draining" period for him on a personal level.

"Some would say to you, for politicians today, is this worth it? Is life worth this, seeing this stuff being put up online about you seven days a week," he said.

"It is draining, but I'm a very positive individual. I know that people who come into my office are looked after, and it's very important that we have a TD in Athlone. If we don't have a TD in Athlone, we'll lose out.

"If people think they can do better than me, let them put their names on the ballot paper and go forward. I have no issue with that," he said.

"But don't sit on a computer at home at night thinking you're doing the right thing by attacking me and by attacking, in particular, my family."

Meanwhile in the south of the country on Wednesday last, Gardaí arrested a male in his 20s for alleged threats related to the fuel protests/blockades which were made against an elected representative.

The man who was arrested was subsequently released without charge, while a file on the case is due to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).