Labour Party candidate Martina Genockey was forced to abandon canvassing yesterday when she was confronted by protesters against her party.

The Dublin woman believes she has been the victim of cyber bullying and claims to have endured a raft of personal abuse since she began campaigning.

The protesters posted video evidence of yesterday’s fracas online, where they claim they “asked her politely could she have a word".

Ms Genockey, who was canvassing with her mother and brother at the time in an estate in Jobstown, was visibly upset and distressed by the end of the confrontation.

She told independent.ie that she abandoned canvassing completely yesterday because she felt “threatened” by their actions .

She told the protesters: “This is a democracy. I’m running for the Labour Party yeah, but it’s a democracy. I’m entitled to do it,” she told them. “I care for my area.”

“Don’t vote for me if you don’t want to,” she told them.

The protesters branded her a “traitor” as she walked away.

Ms Genockey claimed today that the incident “wasn’t a one off”.

“The people are from my estate in Jobstown where I’m from. One of them had been on my Facebook page. I’d answered a lot of her questions. But it got to the stage where it was irrational and there were comments daily.”

“I took the decision to remove one woman from my page and when you remove a profile , the comments get taken down as well.”

Ms Genockey had been particularly aggrieved by personal posting on her Facebook pages earlier.

In evidence seen by independent.ie, one male protester said: “she has an arse like a hippo”.

Another female protester said: “She talks like a robot, very wooden, she would only bore you to death”.

Ms Genockey has said she has received messages of support from her community.

“I didn’t know [the protesters] at all before this. My brother knew who they were. It’s not about me. They’ve made it personal but they’re part of protest groups. I think it’s just because I’m in their estate that they took it this far.”

“They’ve had a very negative reaction. People are good and decent. It only happened yesterday but they had a hugely negative reaction.”

“I did yesterday feel threatened. I wouldn’t say I felt afraid but I felt bullied, and they took it to the streets.”

“I did think yesterday ‘what am I doing’? The only reason I want to run is I want to stand up for my area.”

“But I realised last night especially with the messages of support that I got, that I’d be letting people down.”

“I’m putting myself out there but when it affects my family and my own mother is upset, and my brother, that’s hard.”

“It has become a bit of an issue.”

Online Editors