UK ambassador to Ireland ‘taking a break’ from Twitter due to abuse
Paul Johnston “a number of us have been subject to abuse, on the basis of opinion, gender or in my case nationality”
Britain's ambassador to Ireland, Paul Johnston
The British ambassador to Ireland has announced that he is “taking a break” from Twitter due to abuse surrounding his nationality.
Paul Johnston, who has been in the position since 2020, was responding to the question of whether other people had noticed “abusive language” in current online conversations about the Government’s consultative forum on defence and Ireland’s neutrality.
Mr Johnston said yesterday that “a number of us have been subject to abuse, on the basis of opinion, gender or in my case nationality.”
He added: “It’s sad to see so much unreason, but there are responses available. Thus I’m taking a break from the Twitter sphere.”
A number of us have been subject to abuse, on the basis of opinion, gender or in my case nationality. It’s sad to see so much unreason, but there are responses available. Thus I’m taking a break from the Twitter sphere. https://t.co/Ct4Ei2RRva
— Paul Johnston (@PJohnstonFCDO) June 23, 2023
The UK ambassador was responding to a tweet from Daniel Mulhall, the former Irish ambassador to the US, UK and Germany, in which he noted the prevalence of “abusive language” in conversations around the consultative forums on international security policy.
The forum is examining Ireland’s international peace and security partnerships, including neutrality policy.
"In current exchanges about Ireland’s security forum, I have noticed that the quality of thought is in inverse proportion to the recourse to abusive language,” Mr Mulhall tweeted. “Anyone else notice this?”
Reacting to Mr Johnston’s departure from the platform, Mr Mulhall said: “I don’t blame you.
"There are some overexcited souls out there but I am convinced that a big majority of Irish people will be able to ‘cast a cold eye’ on these issues and support reasonable solutions to the many challenges facing us.”
Two meetings of the forum have already taken place in Cork on June 22 and in Galway on June 23.
The first meeting at University College Cork featured multiple disruptions from protestors.
The week prior to the forum launch was dominated by news of comments made by President Michael D Higgins about neutrality and foreign policy.
In an interview with the Business Post last Sunday, Mr Higgins questioned the list of planned speakers and those involved in the meetings.
"The crawl away from the self-esteem of our foreign policy bothers me,” he said.
The President has since apologised for a “throwaway” and “casual” remark he made about Dr Louise Richardson, the former head of Oxford University and chair of the four-day event.
He had referred to her as a person “with a very large DBE – Dame of the British Empire.”
The next meetings of the forum will take place at Dublin Castle on June 26 and 27.
