Limerick mayoral candidate contacts gardaí after home address shared on TikTok and people urged to smash windows

Fine Gael councillor Daniel Butler has described how he and his young family have also been targeted in a “very sinister” campaign of online abuse in the run-up to the historic election.

Mr Butler has made a formal complaint to gardaí after he was alerted by a council colleague to images of his family home, along with his eircode, with the message “everyone pull up and smash my windows” posted on video-sharing platform TikTok.

He said gardaí are taking the matter “very seriously” and have contacted TikTok seeking details about the account holder who posted about Mr Butler’s home.

Since the image was posted, further threatening behaviour has been directed at his family, online and offline – ­including towards his children, who are eight and 14 years old.

“Over the course of the weekend it worsened,” Mr Butler said. “I don’t want to go into the detail of it publicly because my children were involved but it changed things from being threatening to very, very sinister.

“I can protect my family within the four walls of my home but I can’t protect them out and about. As a parent, I’ve chosen to go into political life and try and make a difference in my community, so initially I blamed myself for placing my own children in danger and that’s pretty upsetting.”

The Fine Gael candidate has served on Limerick City Council for the last 10 years and was last month selected by his party to contest the election for the city’s first directly elected mayor.

He previously served as mayor of Limerick in 2021 when he was selected by his council colleagues.

Mr Butler said his wife has been left shaken by the ordeal and they had a serious conversation about whether he should remain in politics. “We had to sit down and talk about it because to be honest with you, nothing is worth putting my children in danger,” he said.

“As much as I have a passion for my city and county, my first and foremost loyalty and love lies with my children, but we came to the conclusion, between us, that there was no way we were going to be intimidated by bloody anybody or bullied by anybody.”

Mr Butler said the ordeal has made him want to campaign harder in the final weeks before the election on June 7.

“Unless we start standing up to this kind of rubbish, where are we’re going as a society?” he said.

“We have to keep challenging these kinds of individuals who think it’s OK to do this to people and especially to politicians because it’s not just an attack on me, it’s an attack on the political system.”

TikTok was contacted for comment.

A garda spokesperson confirmed the force is “investigating a complaint of harassment” in Limerick.

“Specifically in respect of election campaigns, An Garda Síochána has appointed liaison inspectors in each of our divisions nationwide to help keep all those participating in the forthcoming elections safe while campaigning,” the garda spokesperson said.

“Our garda divisional crime prevention officers are based around the country to help on any matter of personal safety and are available to take a report of any incident.”