There is shock and outrage across the political spectrum following the assault of Independent Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae on Wednesday, September 16th. He had been in Leinster House earlier that day and was travelling home in his car when he was punched in the face in what An Garda Síochána have described as an unprovoked and politically motivated assault. Mr Healy-Rae attended St Vincent’s University Hospital shortly after the assault and required stitches to the head. The next day, a suspect was arrested and subsequently charged with assault. Taoiseach Micheál Martin condemned the assault and said that “violence has no place in a democracy, and those elected to represent the people must be allowed to do their work without fear of abuse or assault. Sinn Féin leader Mary-Lou McDonald called the incident “a wake-up call,” in terms of the larger political atmosphere.
Speaking before the arrest of the suspect, Assistant Garda Commissioner Jonathan Roberts said that approximately eighteen arrests have been made since 2025 in relation to incidents of abuse towards public representatives.
Reports like the 2024 Report on the Abuse and Harassment of Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas and Political Staff have indicated a noticeable increase in the prevalence of abuse targeting politicians. A survey published in the context of this report revealed that 94 per cent of Oireachtas members and 72 per cent of the political staff have faced some form of threat or harassment, much of it via social media.
This digital abuse has become more prevalent as social media increasingly plays a larger role in our lives and politics. A joint study of the 2024 Irish General Election by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) and by Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Hope and Courage Collective (H&CC) showed that of the 55 incidents of politically motivated intimidation recorded, 90 per cent occurred via social media, with X and Tiktok accounting for the majority of cases.
Further research from NGOs like Women for Election and the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) has shown that female politicians are more likely to experience abuse, usually taking the form of psychological and gender-based discrimination. A study in July 2026 by NGO Women for Election showed that 96 per cent of female Oireachtas members faced online violence.
In their 2023 book Gender and Violence Against Political Actors, political science professors and researchers Elin Bjarnegård and Pär Zetterberg characterise political violence “as a two-fold problem: it inflicts harm on the personal integrity of the victim, and constitutes a challenge to the overall political system, as perpetrators do not respect the democratic rules of the game.” The assault on Mr Haely-Rae is a stark reminder of this.
In Ireland, political violence has historically had a large impact on Irish society and democracy. The 1798 Rebellion, the Easter Rising in 1916, the War of Independence shortly afterwards, and the Troubles from the late sixties through 1998 are all significant examples of the effects political violence can have on Irish society. But it seems as though we have not quite left political violence in the past. Today, Ireland’s commitment to an open and inclusive society — which brings with it support for diversity and freedom of speech — is threatened by public disillusionment (the loss of trust in the political system) and governmental shortcomings in issues like public transport and agriculture.
Ireland uses proportional representation through the single transferable voting (PR-STV) system to elect its politicians on a local, national, and European Union level. Such a system encourages candidates to engage with their local community and adopt a more personalised manifesto rather than campaigning solely under their party’s banner. Such close encounters can present more opportunities for hostile interactions with members of the public. If politicians are fearful of assault or harassment, they may be less inclined to engage with their communities, thus weakening a key pillar of the Irish democratic system.
Yet it seems that political violence is not only an Irish phenomenon. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) said in a plenary session in April 2026 that political violence has no place in democracy. Arguing in favor of adopting a resolution condemning violence and hate speech directed towards politicians, Italian politician Elisabetta Gardini said that such violence can have a “chilling effect on democratic participation”, further discouraging current and prospective elected representatives.
In Europe, political violence has increased dramatically according to the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS). Their 2025 survey in Germany showed “that 81 per cent of local politicians targeted by verbal and written attacks report experiencing physical and mental effects in their everyday life”, while in France, of the 2,501 offences against elected officials in 2024, 64 per cent were against local mayors, according to a 2025 study by Centre d’Analyse et de Lutte contre les Atteintes aux Élues (CALAE).
Erosion of political diversity, increased normalisation of hostility, and silence through fear. Is that the future of Irish democracy? Is Ireland following the upward trends seen in other European nations? Preventing such an outcome requires a clear rejection of political violence in all its forms. The political fallout from Mr Haely-Rae’s assault serves as a constant reminder that political violence is not, and will never be, acceptable.
