A MAN HAS issued death threats aimed at Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris in a video posted online. 

McDonald said the threat “represents an escalation of targeted online abuse” directed towards her in the last year and that she had reported it to An Garda Síochána.

A Garda spokesperson confirmed they were aware of the video and are investigating the matter. 

“Last night a threat to kill me was issued online.,” McDonald wrote in a post on X. 

“The individual said he would shoot me dead. This represents an escalation of targeted online abuse directed at me over the last year. It is totally unacceptable.

“Ironically, this threat was made while I was hosting a discussion on the need for zero tolerance when it comes to violence against women and girls.” 

While wearing a black mask, the man in the video said he would shoot the Sinn Féin leader “for free”. 

“I’ll do her for free, I will,” he said.

Referring to Commissioner Harris, the man in the video said: “He’ll be getting shot before the end of the year.” 

At the beginning of the video, the man praised the violent actions of people who gathered at a premises earmarked for the accommodation of asylum seekers in Coolock. 

“Petrol bomb the fuck out of the lot of them,” he said. 

Speaking on RTÉ Radio this afternoon, McDonald said: “This threat was made to take my life. Is was as blatant and blunt as that.”

“And it does represent, as I’ve said, an escalation on what has been a really relentless campaign over the last 12 months or so, of abuse of a misogynistic, sometimes a racist nature really piled on against me in a very concentrated and coordinated way.”

McDonald said she was “all for freedom of expression” but that she would not tolerate threats against her life. 

“I do not believe in censorship. I am also not somebody who is touchy or sensitive about criticism and commentary that comes with being a public figure. But I do not accept and I will not accept a threat against my life. Or anybody else’s. It is utterly unacceptable and it is sinister.”

There is no place for this in Irish society and must not be tolerated .
Solidarity with @MaryLouMcDonald https://t.co/QkORm9lUxv

— Mark Ward T.D. (@MarkWardSF) July 17, 2024

She said that she expects the gardaí to deal with the matter “appropriately”. 

Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty said the threats were “very disturbing”.

“Somebody has not only made threats against our party leader of that nature but also in relation to a senior member of the Garda Síochána.

“Those threats have been reported, Gardaí are aware of them and the social media platforms that are carrying those threats have also been notified.”