Elaine Byrne: Online lynch mobs pose a real threat and have no place in our democracy

Eoghan Murphy had to be shielded from a hostile crowd at the 2019 election count, Leo Varadkar has Garda protection from death threats, and Hazel Chu has expressed fears for her daughter’s safety. Things have gone too far

Protest is a fundamental human right in a democracy, and there was much to object to during Eoghan Murphy’s tenure as Minister for Housing

“You useless, arrogant, inept, cowardly f**king failure. You could not possibly have been a bigger failure. You worthless sack of pus. You grasping, selfish, criminal f**k.”

This was a response on social media to the announcement by an elected representative that he was retiring from domestic politics. It only took a few seconds of scrolling Eoghan Murphy's online post to find this ugly comment.

I am sorry, readers, that you had to read this. The ...