A LOCAL ELECTION candidate and former TD has voiced concern about people with far right ideology trying to “frighten” and “intimidate” candidates after one of her campaign posters had a Nazi symbol cut into it. 

Ruth Coppinger, a Solidary-People Before Profit local election candidate in Castleknock, said that some of her supporters were putting up posters last weekend when they came across one that had had a swastika cut into her image. 

Posters have been erected around the country from 8 May ahead of the local and European elections, which will take place on 7 June. 

Since then, a number of posters have been damaged, including some that were set on fire in the Swords area of Dublin. 

Speaking to The Journal, Coppinger described what happened to her poster as “symptomatic” of the far right.

“In this case, to take the trouble to cut out a Nazi symbol onto a poster, this is somebody who is ideologically fascist,” she said.

“The far right are trying to frighten women, particularly socialists or people who aren’t in government, and to limit our activity in this election, and we cannot and won’t allow that to happen.”

Swastika Nazi symbol cut into my face on a poster is latest sinister threat from #FarRight & part of a menacing atmosphere they’re trying to create in elections for women, for socialists & generally.

See press statement here https://t.co/chFcKn8f6U#LE24 #Castleknock pic.twitter.com/Wgqs7t8XNH

— Ruth Coppinger (@RuthCoppingerSP) May 13, 2024

Coppinger said it is the first election where there are far right candidates, and said there is “no doubt” that the current political climate is “very, very polarised”. 

She said she is concerned about the intimidation of, and in some cases violence, being expressed towards election candidates. It comes after Fingal councillor Tania Doyle and her husband were attacked while putting up election posters last weekend. 

“It’s a real issue. This is what fascists and far right people do. They are violent. They’re anti democratic, and they try to intimidate people.”

She stressed that she is particularly worried about minorities, people of colour and LGBTQI+ people in the Dublin 15 area. 

“I know from talking to migrant workers, who’ve been living here 20 years, whose children are Irish, they are very, very frightened since the pandemic about the rise in racism. They’ve said that to me.”

She said campaigners and election candidates are more conscious about security at this election than any that have previously taken place, adding that there had been “incidents” where “far right agitators” had disrupted public meetings. 

“They’re obviously going to use the elections to try to increase their support and to intimidate others.

“We’ll be taking security and safety seriously, but we’re not going to be intimidated.”

Coppinger said she would be contacting other political parties about compiling a central record of incidents “so we can try to make it safer for people to campaign, but also people in communities as well”.

Posters up!

Some have unfortunately been vandalised and some totally removed from where I had them. But as they say, when they go low, we go high. I know we're better than that as a community. I remain focused and undeterred. See attached to read more... pic.twitter.com/m2Wwb9uzHg

— Islammiyah S. Kadejo Peace Commissioner (@the_islammiyah) May 13, 2024

Islammiyah Kadejo, a Green Party local election candidate in Tuam, Co Galway has also seen some of her posters vandalised. 

Speaking to The Journal, she said that after putting some up in her local area on 8 May, she returned the following day to erect more when she found that three had been graffitied, with some others having been removed altogether.

“I contacted my party and they said they would be speaking with the Gardaí. I took [the posters] down because I don’t want young people or people who are marginalised or who have been encouraged to see that kind of thing,” Kadejo said.

“I posted it on social media because I wanted to create awareness. I just couldn’t get it out of my mind. I wasn’t expecting that to happen.”

She said she felt sad after seeing the damaged posters. “In the last seven years, I have run a charity, I’ve sat on different boards of groups and organisations. I’ve been doing my best in the community and I know Ireland is very open, welcoming and friendly to everyone and everybody has opportunities.

“This just hurt me badly. Why this time?”

Having decided to go into politics last year, she said she is not deterred by the incident. However, she said she is concerned about the far right.

“I’m concerned about the fact that people like me who have been volunteering for almost 10 years in Ireland, who had all my kids in Ireland, is being told to go home, and I’m even being trolled for being a Muslim.

“The far right is making things about race, about religion, about gender sometimes, rather than looking at: ‘what can this person offer the community?’.

“This is the thing we should be looking at. People should be seen as human beings. I’m concerned about not seeing the individuals and also threatening or trolling us for just being ourselves, for just wanting to serve our community, the community that is now home to us, simply because we are different.”

Swords firefighters were called to reports of "polls" on fire this week.

On arrival they discovered numerous election posters alight in several locations.

Making the job harder for @electionlit 😳 pic.twitter.com/CMJMPgAU9s

— Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) May 11, 2024

Dublin Fire Brigade were called after several election posters were set alight in the Swords area of Dublin last week. 

Among those to be damaged were posters belonging to Fianna Fáil councillor Darragh Butler. 

In a statement, Butler said: “I am extremely disappointed to see election posters for various candidates including my own, having been set a light and burned along the far end of the Brackenstown Road, Swords, last weekend.

“The most worrying part of this is the potential damage if these fires spread, but also it is a total waste of time for the Dublin Fire Brigade who have better things to be doing that responding to such unnecessary calls.”

A garda spokesperson told The Journal that Gardaí received a report of the posters being set alight in the early hours of Friday morning. 

“A number of posters on the Brackenstown Road were set alight and damaged shortly before 12:30am,” the spokesperson said. 

Investigations into the incident are ongoing.

“Anyone with any information is asked to contact Swords Garda Station on 01 666 4700, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station.”