Limerick councillor says 'spirit and passion beaten out of me' after years of vile online abuse
Social Democrats councillor Elisa O’Donovan told how she has been filmed in public, flashed and followed
A female politician says years of trolling have left her broken and afraid to leave her house.
Social Democrats councillor Elisa O’Donovan spoke out about the toll the barrage of online bile has taken on her.
The 41-year-old has been subjected to vile abuse from trolls, with one calling her “an obnoxious f***ing c**t”.
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Cllr O’Donovan, who ran for Limerick’s first directly-elected mayor, also told how she has been filmed in public, flashed and followed.
She said: “[I] have felt that my spirit and passion had been beaten out of me.
“I have had to spend thousands of euros on defending a SLAPP case that has been initiated against me. I have had to distance myself from charities I support as they have been issued with legal threats if they show support for me.
“My team of all women have been harassed, filmed, and stalked non-stop for months, leaving me scared everywhere I go.
“I don’t think it would be normal if this didn’t have an impact on me.
“I have become numbed from the hate and vitriol that has been directed at me every day for five years.”
Cllr O’Donovan said she contested the local elections in survival mode and has only had a chance to recover on a holiday in France.
She added: “These last few days by the sea have really helped me heal my soul a bit. It’s not back to being fully vibrant, positive, and passionate Elisa yet, but it has helped.”
In June Cllr O’Donovan, a speech and language therapist with the HSE who describes herself as “proudly woke”, begged trolls to stop.
She added: “I am asking everyone who harasses me on here, by email, by phone and now on Reddit, to please stop.”
One email referred to her as a “vile bitch” and added: “Hopefully you get what’s coming to you and the rest of the sick filth globalist scum occupying cllr and TD seats in Ireland you ugly c**t”.
In 2021, she reported being cyber flashed to gardai after she was sent an unsolicited image via WhatsApp of an “erect penis”.
Elisa said: “The guards are doing their best but they don’t have the resources to deal with the online space.
“Digital harassment is very difficult to deal with.”
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