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The Mayor of Galway City is taking time off from office after various threats were made against him and his family.
Independent Councilman Mike Cubbard was elected in 2014 and has been mayor since 2019. However, a series of personalized threats against him have led him to “take a step back.”
The incidents, which have been reported to Gardaí and include graffiti painted at a community center and comments online, culminated earlier this week with a note that was left in the truck of a Galway City Council worker near the home of Cubbard’s parents.
“HSE bastards. We will catch you, ”it said. “We will burn you. We will get Cobbard [sic]. Lying pigs! Cobbard pig “.
In another incident, a WhatsApp account that was allegedly owned by Cubbard sent sexually explicit messages to public representatives across the country, many of whom the councilman never met.
Mr. Cubbard told the that he’s “taking a couple of days” to decide if he wants to continue in his role, saying that “he won’t do the job if I can’t do it 100%.”
“The note they left on Tuesday was about 500 meters from the house I grew up in. It is the third time in 12 months that they have threatened me. The note was placed in the house of a family that has nothing to do with me.”
Cubbard said that while he accepts that scrutiny is part of being a politician, he does not accept personalized abuse.
“People say you’re in politics and you have to suffer this, but you don’t have to endure this level of personal abuse,” he said.
“We keep telling ourselves that this type of behavior and trolling will go away, but it won’t go away on its own. The average person will walk away from politics.”
Mr. Cubbard says he is “big and bold enough” to understand that there are disagreements.
Cubbard says he will decide over the weekend whether to chair the council meeting on Monday.
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