Newly-appointed Donegal Senator Nikki Bradley has revealed how she has made herself a promise to avoid comments online after suffering negative abuse.
The hugely popular disability campaigner became the Taoiseach Simon Harris’s nominee to the Seanad last week.
She replaces Fine Gael’s Regina Doherty after her election to the European Parliament.
Ms Bradley is expected to secure the Fine Gael nomination to fight for departing TD Joe’s McHugh’s Dáil seat in Donegal.
Although she insists she was ‘not really bothered’ by the comments, she told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘I’m very conscious that it’s very early days and it’s probably easy to say that now.
‘I know that something will come along that will hurt me. I’m just going to have to grow a thick skin.
“It is what it is, but definitely I will be putting security measures in place so I don’t have to be subjected to that kind of online abuse.’
She admits she has already ‘put a rule in place’ that she ‘won’t be reading them, moving forward’.
‘I have been well warned to avoid comments for that reason [abuse], which is a shame because it means you’re also missing suggestions by the public they may have put in the comments, or positive feedback.’
Diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, at the age of 16, Ms Bradley had two hip replacements by 26.
In remission since 2005, she said it was radiotherapy that caused ‘all the damage’ and led to her multiple surgeries.
She set up the awareness campaign Fighting Fit For Ewing in 2013 and is known for taking on mammoth physical challenges, such as climbing mountains.
Her first days in the Seanad have been a ‘baptism of fire’, she said – though ‘incredibly interesting’ and as a permanent single crutch user she has had to contend with accessibility issues in Leinster House.
‘The Seanad bell rings, and you have a certain amount of time to get from A to B,’ she said. ‘So far I haven’t been late, but I’m certainly a little bit worn out by the time I reach the Seanad from the walk.’
