Charlie McConalogue has broken his silence over the vitriolic online abuse aimed directly at him in the lead up to last Friday’s polling day.
Minutes before his re-election, the affable Inishowen man spoke to Donegal Daily’s Charlie Collins.
When it was put to him that he was caught in the ‘eye of the storm’ of the defective block crisis, McConalogue said it was a ‘trauma for everyone’ and that it was the issue he worked hardest on over the last four-and-a-half years.
However, he revealed, there was a ‘particular type of campaigning’ that he had never seen before since he was first elected to the Dáil in 2011.
“Particularly over the last week, online, this (abuse) had an impact on the campaign,” McConalogue said.
“However, I am grateful that my vote held from my last election and that my percentage also held and I kept the seat.”
Why would anyone get into, or stay in, politics given that level of abuse being hurled at them?
McConalogue said ‘online stuff’ is an aspect of many professions, but he has managed to not let it get to him ‘too much.’
“Certainly it’s something that can be very off-putting for new people coming in,” he said.
“However, looking at this campaign in Donegal and across the country, it was heartening and energising to see, despite how politics has changed over the past few years, so many good people putting themselves forward as candidates and coming from different walks of life. And I was worried if people will keep doing it, and they will. Something we will also have to focus on is giving respect for one another in terms of campaigns. But, I’m just glad to be back and be able to continue that work, supporting families with the defective block scheme and trying to deliver for the county.”
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