Public march to be held in support of CoCo’s Law
MUM CAMPAIGNING FOR LAW AGAINST ONLINE BULLYING
A PUBLIC MARCH will take place at 3 p.m. in Gorey this Saturday, July 18, as part of the Coco’s Law campaign after more than 32,000 signatures were gathered for a petition against a surge in online bullying.
Organiser Jackie Fox, who has been living in Courtown for the last number of months, lost her daughter Nicola (CoCo) two years ago to suicide at the age of just 21.
Nicole took her own life after years of bullying and harassment that, for the most part, took place online.
Jackie explained that she went from being a happy and bubbly young girl, to a frightened teenager who cried herself to sleep every night.
She began to self harm in her teens and her family noticed a lot of change in her outlook as the suffering continued.
At the age of 18, she took an overdose and was referred to CAMHS for intervention. Throughout this time, the bullying continued until life changed completely for the family when they lost Nicole in January 2018.
Jackie started her campaign in the months after Nicole’s death and said that, in her view, the time is now for a law against cyber bullying to be passed.
The aim of the march is to raise awareness and to tell these stories around mental health, suicide and bullying.
With all hygiene and social distancing guidelines being adhered to, the march will begin at Lidl in Gorey at 3 p.m., and will walk in a loop around to Aldi and up towards the Main street.
It is hoped that other marches will take place in other counties as this is a country-wide issue, but Jackie said it was important to hold the first one in Wexford.
‘ The more support I can get from everyone, the better. We have the new government now and things are starting to move a little bit closer with Coco’s Law. Brendan Howlin has been helping me, and now we have over 32,000 petitions gathered.
‘We needed 20,000 signatures for the issue to be raised in the Dáil again before the election, so I plan to present the petition to the new Justice Minister Helen McEntee outside of Leinster House in the coming weeks.
‘We had marches planned in Cork before the Covid-19 lockdown, but not a lot of people know about Coco’s Law here in Wexford, so I decided to hold a march and a talk here first,’ she said.
Although the lockdown has been a set-back for the campaign, Jackie is confident that it’s now time to press on after two years of campaigning.
‘ The delays in forming a new government didn’t help us, and I’ve fears that if it’s left too late it’ll fall down the priority list after Covid-19. James Browne is in government, and he has helped me out as well by writing to the new minister for Justice, but I want to do as much as I can.
‘Covid was a big hindrance; I think it would have been passed by now if everything didn’t get in the way. I hope everyone will turn out now and support as I’ve contacted local groups and representatives.
‘I can’t control the weather but I hope it will be a nice day to have people out,’ she said.
Dublin comedian Enya Martin has recently gotten behind the campaign, sharing her own experience of online hate-speech from trolls.
Jackie believes that there has been an increase in this type of behaviour during the Covid-19 lockdown.
‘People couldn’t go out and the amount of calls and texts I’ve got because of bullying, it has definitely gotten worse, an unbelievable amount.
‘It comes down to what else they could do? They were bored and they know there’s no law there against it so they don’t see it as wrong.
‘I probably come across like I’m anti-social media but I’m not and I don’t hate apps and social media, it’s only a bad thing if it’s not used properly or it’s used to harm someone.
‘ TiKTok has been lethal during the lockdown and if it’s used to harm someone, that’s not what we want. TiKTok is great fun, don’t get me wrong, I’ve watched funny videos on it but they’re only funny if it’s used properly and it has got its bad sides like any other app.
‘For me personally, without social media, I wouldn’t have gotten support behind me, for me and with me for the Coco’s Law campaign to back me up. I’ve only gotten one negative feedback out of the thousands of positives’.
Jackie has recently teamed up with the March for Justice Ireland group, and she hopes the marches will be the last push to get Coco’s Law over the line.
All are invited to Saturday’s March, but in the meantime the petition is available to sign online at change.org, by searching ‘Bring in CoCo’s Law’.