Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I had to remove uninvited person from my home
DEPUTY First Minister Michelle O’neill has revealed she once had to “physically remove an uninvited person” from her home, as MLAS condemned abuse against elected representatives.
It follows heightened security fears for politicians after the fatal stabbing of Conservative MP Sir David Amess last Friday at his constituency surgery in Essex.
Ms O’neill expressed sympathy to his family and said no one in public office should face threats, intimidation or harassment.
Speaking in the Stormont Assembly, the Sinn Fein deputy leader said: “I would imagine there are very few MLAS across this chamber who haven’t been at some time subjected to abuse, whether that be in person or online, there are very few of us that escape that.
“I’ve had to physically remove an uninvited person from my home. That’s the type of thing we experience as public representatives and that is not acceptable for anyone to have to deal with that.”
First Minister Paul Givan described Sir David as a “giant of Westminster politics” who was “brutally killed when serving his community”.
Earlier DUP peer Lord Nigel Dodds, who survived two murder bids, described Sir David’s death as an “attack on democracy”.
Lord Dodds and his wife, DUP MLA Diane Dodds, escaped injury in 1996 when IRA gunmen wounded their police bodyguard as the couple visited their seriously ill son in Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital.
And in 2003, dissident republicans left a bomb outside the former DUP deputy leader’s constituency office.
Lord Dodds said that following Sir David’s stabbing, many politicians would be thinking: “There by the grace of God, it could’ve been me.”
But he added there is a “determination across the political spectrum to carry on and not let these people win”.
Stormont Justice Minister Naomi Long said Sir David’s death was a “reminder of the vulnerability that all of us face in public life”.
Mrs Long, who said she got her first death threat 19 years ago, told BBC’S Nolan Show numerous threatening incidents she has faced including her car being hit with golf balls after attending a vigil over a racist attack.
And the Alliance leader revealed she has had to review her own security within recent weeks due to threats.