Tánaiste worried at 'hate and bile' being directed towards migrants on social media
Protesters disrupted the speech of Minister Micheal Martin at the official opening of the re-vamped MacCurtain Street, Cork. Picture: Larry Cummins
Micheál Martin has said he is worried, in the wake of Thursday's Dublin riots, at the level of “hate and bile" on social media platforms being directed towards migrants.
The Tánaiste also took aim at X, formerly Twitter, for not cooperating with tackling such material.
“It is absolutely unacceptable,” he said. “Legislation will be brought in that respect and also we have to robustly engage with some media platforms in terms of their facilitation of such online hate and bile, which can lead to violence. I know that many people are now afraid.
“The world is a much different place today. Thankfully, in Ireland, we are a multicultural society. We are a society that has grown, our population has grown, our economy has grown and we are a modern, progressive, inclusive society. That is worth fighting for, it is worth protecting. It is worth recommitting ourselves to.”
Mr Martin added that while there has been very good cooperation from a number of social media groups, Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, is “not cooperating” and a lot of the material on the platform is “absolutely unacceptable”.
At an event in Cork City on Saturday, the Tánaiste also said Thursday’s riots were “essentially an attack on the state".
“It is an attack on families, on our society, on our community, on our workers and it cannot be tolerated,” he said.
“The government’s focus now is on dealing with such threats to public order because yes we have an obligation to protect our citizens in our cities and in our towns and across the country.”
Meanwhile, the Tánaiste said he hopes that nine-year-old Emily Hand is among the hostages released as Gaza enters into its second day of ceasefire.
Hamas is expected to swap more of its hostages for prisoners held by Israel on the second day of a ceasefire that has allowed critical humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and given civilians their first respite after seven weeks of war.
“We pray, we hope that she will be one of those to come out of Gaza. We want all hostages released,” Mr Martin said.
During his trip to the Middle East last week, Mr Martin said Emily’s case was raised all the time, with the Qatari, UAE and Saudi leadership, to those who “potentially may have influence"
“I think it would be a lovely moment if a young child who has been through unbelievable trauma could come out of Gaza,” he said.
“I think it would be a beautiful moment for that family, in the midst of all the gloom and darkness in that conflict.”
