Mayor of Galway reports death threats to Gardaí

From this week’s Galway City Tribune –  The Mayor of Galway is temporarily stepping back from public life – after revealing that he has been the target of a series of anonymous death threats against him and his family.

Cllr Mike Cubbard said that the continuous abuse – by post and on social media – has caused him to reconsider why he should continue in political office at all.

“When I came home after this latest letter last week, I genuinely had heart palpitations and I just wondered why I even bothered. I’ve gone to schools across this city trying to encourage kids to get involved in local democracy – but now I just think why would they?” he said.

“My first instinct was to ask the Deputy Mayor to see out the year and I’d step back to just concentrate on my work as a councillor – but now I’m just going to step back for a week or two to get my head right, recharge the batteries, and stay off social media,” he said.

The Independent councillor had gone public on social media to highlight the abuse – and he also posted one of the death threat notes sent to him.

“We will get ye,” it warned. “We will burn ye. We will get Cobbard [sic]. Ye lying pigs. Cobbard pig.”

On top of the hand-written death threats, he was also the target of an anonymous tweet, stating that he ‘needed to be tied to a rock and put to the bottom of the Corrib’.

He also expressed disappointment with the response of Gardaí to the threats made against him – and from Galway’s Oireachtas members to whom he wrote, asking for legislation on social media in relation to anonymous posts.This is a shortened preview version of this article. To read the rest of the story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.