Female councillors get phone calls with sexually explicit comments

FEMALE councillors in areas like Tallaght, Lucan and across South Dublin have received “disturbing” phone calls from an individual in recent weeks through a private number.

Several phone calls were answered which led to unsettling conversations including sexually explicit comments that have affected some of the responders, and these calls have been reported to the gardaí.

If left unanswered, the calls continued to pepper the phones of the female councillors.

Councillor Niamh Whelan noted that she has received plenty of these calls in the past week and noted that they appear to be “scripted”, or very similar to one another, based on conversations with other councillors who answered.

Cllr Whelan described receiving a call at nine o’clock one night that she did not respond to, and then later answering the phone in the morning and speaking with the individual, who gave the same name to several affected councillors, as well as location.

Cllr Whelan noted that the call related to a “confession” and that the caller wished to be “challenged.”

The Tallaght Central councillor said: “I hung up the phone, then my phone rang 31 times, one after the other and I actually had to turn the phone off . . . then over the past couple of days, the phone has been ringing again sporadically with private numbers.”

She has not engaged with a call since, but Cllr Whelan is not the only person affected by these persistent calls in the local area.

Cllr Louise Dunne received a call two weeks ago, and she struggled to sleep the night after hearing what was said.

Cllr Dunne discussed it with other elected representatives and they came to the understanding that being a female representative was key to why they were targeted with the  calls.

The Tallaght South councillor said: “I’ve had to have my phone on airplane mode. I’m literally just after switching it on there – I only turn it on when I need to.”

Cllr Vicki Casserly also responded to a call and noted that she has operated differently since.

Cllr Casserly added that the calls do not appear to show any kind of party preference, and that the issue is impartial in that sense.

The Lucan councillor noted that the calls do not put her off public life, but that it has altered her approach.

“For any of us that have experienced the calls, it is changing the way we approach things.”