‘I hope you get cancer’ – Staff member at Wexford council’s housing department subjected to ‘outrageous’ online abuse

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

The children of a member of Wexford County Council’s (WCC) housing staff have been left “distraught” following threats made to their parent on social media. The member of staff was named online and subjected to abuse which included the wish that they “would get cancer so they could see what it was like”.

The social media post related to a discussion held in County Hall where a housing case involving a man recently diagnosed with cancer was raised. This led to the member of staff being named online and the subsequent comments regarding their welfare.

At the June meeting of WCC, chief executive Eddie Taaffe said it was “absolutely outrageous” that a member of his staff should be abused online for simply doing their job.

“I have no issue with the matter raised by the councillor at the time,” he said. “In this instance, a member of our staff was named on social media and what was said about them was absolutely outrageous. Someone said they hoped this member of staff would get cancer so they would see what it was like for them.

“I respect the right of members to raise cases, but we have to be cognisant that we live in a very different world now. The family of this member of staff, teenagers, were distraught by what they saw on social media.”

Chief Executive of Wexford County Council, Eddie Taaffe.

At pains not to point the finger of blame at anyone in the chamber, Mr Taaffe said there was a responsibility to deal with these cases delicately during public meetings.

“I would just ask that with some cases we be careful what we say in here, we’re very happy to discuss cases on an individual basis but we are restricted on what we can say in the chamber,” he said. “My role as chief executive is to look after the staff and ensure they’re not exposed to this discourse online.”

As someone who works in the healthcare system, Councillor Ger Carthy deals with many of the more vulnerable members of society.

“Our housing team show a lot of heart when dealing with special cases, whether it’s people with psychiatric or medical conditions they do their very best,” he said. “We are all frustrated by the lack of housing in the county, but we have to realise that all these cases are very complex.”

Cllr Jackser Owens is a cancer survivor and said he wouldn’t wish the illness “on anyone”. He also offered support for WCC’s housing staff.

“They are fair and straight in all their dealings,” he said.

After Cllr Aoife Rose O’Brien gave her backing for housing staff and Cllr Michael Sheehan said it was “repulsive to attack a local government official who can’t defend themselves”, the councillor at the centre of the case apologised for his role in affairs.

“I was the councillor who brought this up at the meeting, I didn’t do it on purpose,” said Cllr Raymond Shannon. “There was nothing menacing about it, I was asked to raise it during a meeting.”

But Mr Taaffe quickly absolved Cllr Shannon of any responsibility for what happened, reassuring him that he had nothing to apologise for.