Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl has said when a member of the public threatened to cut his head off he took it “with a pinch of salt”. 

The Kildare TD said he “wouldn’t want to exaggerate” the abuse he receives but said it has become a “phenomenon in the past couple of years”. 

Speaking on The Hard Shoulder, Deputy Ó Fearghaíl said he believes what he receives is “mild” in comparison to female TDs and Senators. 

“In the not too distant past I had somebody come to the office looking for me,” he recounted. 

“I wasn’t there, they told a staff member when they got me, they’d cut my head off. 

“I would take all that with a grain of salt because I knew the person involved and I wouldn’t attribute anything significant to it.” 

Leinster House. Picture by: Alamy.com 

Other threats the Ceann Comhairle said he takes more seriously and has contacted the Gardaí about. 

“I did around the same time receive a letter from an anonymous writer who told me that they knew where I lived, they knew the registration of my car, knew my comings and goings, knew I’d had a cancer diagnosis and they hoped the cancer would get me,” he said. 

“But the implication was if the cancer didn’t get me, they were waiting in the long grass.

“That sort of thing was quite sinister and I did pass that on to the Gardaí.” 

Not representative

Deputy Ó Fearghaíl described Irish politics as at a “juncture” and sorely in need of new politicians to “renew the body politic”. 

He worries that many capable people might look at the abuse politicians receive and decide they do not want to stand for election because of it. 

“We need to get more young people, we need to get an awful lot more women,” he said. 

“We need to get more representatives of the new Irish community. 

“I say very often when I sit in the Dáil in the Ceann Comhairle’s chair and I look out, I see more people like myself - old, grey-haired guys than I do the sort of people I see when I walk down Grafton Street.” 

Earlier today, a man appeared in court charged with threatening Taoiseach Simon Harris. 

Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald also received a death threat last month.

Main image: Seán Ó Fearghaíl. Picture by: Ukraine Presidency/Ukraine Presidency/Alamy Live News