Saturday, May 25, 2024

Vote #1 McCarthy, Cathal - The Real Independent Candidate for Limerick City West

WATCH: The reasons I'm standing in this local election for Limerick City West

2024 Local Election: The Real Independent (PDF - 1-page A4 Leaflet)

Below are links to my election literature from my previous efforts:

2019 Local Election: You Will Elect The Councillors You Deserve (PDF - 8-page A4 Newsletter) 2014 Local Election: Job Application for the Position of Councillor (PDF - 1-page A4 Leaflet)
2009 Local Election: Take Back This City (PDF - 8-page A4 Newsletter)

2007 General Election: A Tale of Two Cities (PDF - 8-page A4 Newsletter)

Sunday, January 1, 2023

2022: My Year In Review, Well Sort Of...

On Saturday, 24th December 2022, I published a holiday special year-in-review video on YouTube and Odysee, well sort of.

I had intended to publish it on Halloween (31st October 2022), which marks the end of the Celtic new year, but time got away from me and I didn't get it finished on time to meet that deadline. 

As I explain at the start of the video, between Family, work and community commitments, I just didn't have the spare time to make videos as frequently as I used to during the lockdown.

Truth be told, the video actually begun to be made as a "March update," but as spring as summer sped on into September, I resolved to make it into a Halloween video, so I edited out some of the stuff that went on earlier in the year and focused on the spookier elements for Halloween. 

Basically, the low hanging fruit of Limerick Antifa got the chop and I focused on the more politically significant and my three favourite witches-not-witches became the main stars.

I missed my own deadline and after Halloween I thought that I might be able to edit it into a Christmas special, but as you will see, the content really was more suited to Halloween. I had a few hours to spare on Christmas Eve, so I sat down at 5pm to  finish the video and published it at 8pm that evening.

On Tuesday 27th December I published the video on BitChute and Rumble, where I have considerably less subscribers, but it got a few views nonetheless.

Ever since the Houses of the Oireachtas tried and failed to get my "Together for Lies" video removed from YouTube last March my videos just don't get the views that they used to and this one was no different, getting just over 200 views on YouTube in three days. 

I suspect that I have been shadow banned; this means that most of my subscribers don't get notified and my videos don't show up in searches.

Then on Wednesday 28th December the video started to climb, reaching over 600 views in a few hours. What was going on? 

It would seem that someone was good enough to advertise it for me on Twitter, well sort of..

As if wishing to prove the point that I made in the video about her narcissistic tendencies, the Social Democrat's Councillor. Elisa O'Donovan makes a double-barreled tweet about my video, without actually naming me or the video.

O'Donovan wrongly claims that I published the video on Christmas Day and that it is all about her. 

The video was published on Christmas Eve and it is not about her, it's about me and my perspective, it's about my political views and the evils of abortion, it's about Halloween, it's about my dealings with the state, and it's about my dealings with liars, narcissists and witches-not-witches, one of whom happens to be Cllr. O'Donovan. 

O'Donovan says that I have crossed a line and claims that her friends and people close to her are being abused publicly for entertainment. 

What utter rubbish; the friends that she refers to are Karen Sugrue and Yvie Murphy, both are part of her election team and are the public face of that fraudulent group "Together for Safety" and the other people I mentioned are those that have engaged with her publicly on Twitter.


Nobody is having their personal life invaded and everything featured in the video was already in the public domain; I am merely commenting about the things that they have posted publicly.

I was genuinely surprised that she even mentioned that the video existed and the screenshots that she shared of it were just perfect. 

The first one was from a clip I used from 60' children's TV show, "H.R. Puff'n Stuff", featuring a musical number by one of the main characters, Wilhelmina Whack Witchiepoo; 

I placed the words "A Limerick Social Democrat's Councillor" under Witchiepoo as those were the exact words used by the architectural historian, Emma Gilleece in her 2021 Instagram post, an Instagram post that was deleted after 45 minutes and merely expressed a wish for "a Limerick Social Democrat's Councillor" to leave Emma's sister alone and stop trying to recruit her as the Limerick Social Democrats spokesperson on mental health. 

The post may have been deleted after 45 minutes, but, O’Donovan had taken a screen shot of it and decided to sue Emma, hoping for an out of court settlement of €10,000. 

When this didn’t happen and Emma decided to contest it in court, O’Donovan’s solicitor dropped the case like a hot cauldron and left her with a hefty legal bill. O'Donovan got a new solicitor, but the case has yet to be heard and O’Donovan’s appears to be dragging her heels in presenting it, my guess is that she hoping to drag it out for as long as possible to avoid any negative publicity before the next local election. 

The next screenshot O'Donovan used was even better, because it was guaranteed to really make people want to see the video; what exactly is a "panda juggling thunder gowl?"...well maybe the answer is in the video, better go seek it out!

Even though O'Donovan asks her followers to report my video to YouTube, she doesn't actually provide a link to the video because she really doesn't want any of her followers to watch it, and I don't blame her. 
Of course she's not going to share a link; the video exposes her as a liar and as a completely incompetent Councillor with a very poor record of attending Council meetings, and she didn't tweet about it just to have it reported.

The video had upset her and I'd say she needed a fix of narcissistic supply to make her feel better, and if that was the case then she got bags of it.


The only lines that have been crossed were the ones crossed by O'Donovan when she lied about me and others. As much as I abhor her twisted beliefs I don't want her out of politics, I just want an admission of wrongdoing and a public apology; I want her to be truthful. 

Her followers are blind to her antics and willfully believe everything she says without question:


It must be true, as our glorious leader says it is, it's all because of misogyny and nothing else.


It is truly is amazing to see the blind allegiance of her a sycophantic followers; here's a link to the tweet, so you can check it out for yourself:

O'Donovan makes all these claims and feels so aggrieved by my videos, but unlike Emma Gilleece, I have actually named her loads of times in numerous videos, yet O'Donovan has never even once attempted to take me to court. As I said in the Halloween Holiday Special video: 

"No such proceedings were ever issued, I didn’t even receive a solicitors letter threatening legal action against me. Not once has O’Donovan or her solicitor ever attempted to contact me; she prefers instead to have hit pieces written about me by her newspaper pals." 

So it came as no big surprise when that is exactly what she did after my Halloween Special, well sort of...

ZOMBIE JOURNALISM TO THE RESCUE

Following on from her double-barreled tweet, O'Donovan managed to get the Irish Examiner to report on it. This style of journalism is what I like to call zombie journalism. This is a style of journalism, where a load of tweets are cobbled together to produce a copy-and-paste article and where nothing is investigated or verified, it's just all regurgitated verbatim as if what was said in the tweets were the only facts of the matter.


O'Donovan is given free reign to say whatever she likes without question, none of her statements are challenged and she is portrayed as the helpless victim of racist, transphobic, and homophobic extremists. 

The zombie journalist this time round is an intern at the Irish Examiner named Jack White.


This would-be White knight zombie journalist provides O'Donovan with even more narcissistic supply. O'Donovan claims that my videos are a "bingo card of misogyny" yet a no point does she say where in the videos this misogyny is located or what it even says in the boxes of her imaginary misogyny bingo card.

Indeed, even Sonja Tutty of the British run Sunday Times had to admit that she could find nothing misogynistic about my videos when she contacted me in November 2021 to get my side of the story for an article she was writing about O'Donovan's claims. 

While Tutty's ideological bias was apparent in her article, at least she gave me the opportunity to present my side of the story; the end result was that the majority of Sunday Times subscriber comments were in support of me:

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE:




Tutty had told me that she didn't find my videos to be misogynistic and her article brought over 200 new subscribers to my YouTube channel. The article that was initiated by O'Donovan had backfired and she ended up shooting herself in the foot with the attempted hit piece; neither O'Donovan nor Tutty shared the article on any of their social media accounts.

By contrast, the Irish Examiner's intern zombie, Jack White, does not name my YouTube channel or videos and he made absolutely no effort to contact me for comment. Although it is clear that he took the time to speak with O'Donovan and he quotes directly from their conversation:

"Ms O’Donovan believes that the content creator wishes to “isolate” her as they are now targeting people who are not in the public eye. These people are contacting Ms O'Donovan 'upset and distressed' about the online material, she said. 'Why on earth would anyone want to support or be involved with a politician when your public life could be up for entertainment?'Ms O’Donovan said over the last two years there have been multiple videos, which she has reported. None, however, were taken down, except for one being restricted to viewers in Ireland after she hired a solicitor. "

I'm not trying to isolate O'Donovan, I'm trying to expose her lies and that is the real reason why she wants my videos taken down. 

All those people mentioned in the video are in the public eye by virtue of the very public statements they have made, which are shown in the video. 

The more pertinent question is, why would anyone want to support or be involved with a politician when they are proven to be a narcissistic self-serving liar and an incompetent public representative? Even the most blind ideologue would find it difficult to continue supporting a politician that has been exposed as a liar and a fraud.

There has indeed been "multiple videos" and none of them were taken down because they haven't invaded anyone's privacy, or broken any laws with regarded to "abuse" or "harassment" as O'Donovan has falsely claimed.

O'Donovan did succeed in getting one video on YouTube blocked in Ireland (it can still be viewed if you have a VPN), and that video is called "Elisa Lies: The Hypocrisy & Mendacities of Councillor Elisa O'Donovan."


O'Donovan got a solicitor to make a false defamation claim to YouTube as they would have had to provide the social media giant with proof that they were taking me to court for defamation. They would have had to lie to YouTube because as I stated earlier, I have never had any direct contact from O'Donovan or her solicitor and I would happily defend everything I have said in a court of law. 

Bizarrely, according to my YouTube Studio, there are no restrictions on the video, yet it remains blocked in Ireland:


That video was the exposé on Cllr. O'Donovan and her antics which was starting to go viral. Some say it was the best video on O'Donovan that they've ever seen (and thankfully it was not totally suppressed as it's still available to view without any restriction on 
BitchuteOdysee and Rumble). 

It is sad to see how low the legacy media has sunk; this zombie journalism will only serve to destroy what little credibility they have left in reporting the news. There might some political gain to be had in the short term, but in the long term the truth will out, it always does in the end.

You can read Jack White's fake news article here:
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster/arid-41038571.html

White's article doesn't mention me, but it does provide a link to another piece of zombie journalism in which I am identified through O'Donovan's tweet, which they embedded in the article, so I think I'll see if this time the Irish Examiner will give me a right to reply, but I won't be holding my breath for it.

SWEET INNOCENT ELISA

O'Donovan claims that she is a "good person" and likes to act as if she has done nothing wrong; she is upset that I am exposing her and in a tweet from last year that I referred to in my Halloween Special, O'Donovan wonders "when does it end," 

Well, it all started when she lied about me, claiming that I harassed and intimidated her, and then she got her far-left extremist pals in Limerick Antifa to start an online hate campaign against me and my children, who they claimed I was raising to be white supremacists, a hate campaign that was publicly endorsed by O’Donovan...and it'll end when she stops lying and issues a public apology to me and the other people she has lied about; 

As I clearly explain in the video, Councillor O’Donovan is more than aware of this as I emailed her and the other Councillors in 2021. asking that she issue a public apology through her various social media accounts, the wording to be as follows:

"In 2021, I made several false claims on social media that I was harassed and intimidated by a cameraman and by the congregants of the Sacred Heart Church as they prayed the Rosary on Palm Sunday. I later revealed the cameraman to be a local community activist in my electoral area of Limerick City West, Cathal McCarthy. I also shamefully endorsed an online hate campaign organised by far-left extremists against Mr. McCarthy and his children; I acknowledge that this was wrong and I unreservedly apologise to Mr. McCarthy for any hurt that I have caused to him and to his family. I was not doing my job as a Councillor when I disrupted the Holy Rosary and shouted at the congregants; I did not have the authority of Limerick City & County Councils to behave in this appalling manner and I unreservedly apologise to the congregants of the Sacred Heart Church for my outrageous behaviour"

This is the unedited footage of O'Donovan's unhinged antics outside the Sacred Heart Church; afterwards she claimed that I had intimidated and harassed her, so I uploaded the footage to show that she lied.

O'Donovan tried to get that video taken down by claiming that it was an invasion of privacy, even though she was public representative in a public place making a public spectacle of herself while claiming to be doing her job as a Councillor. Needless to say the video wasn't removed because there was no validity to her complaint. 

The complete set of the Elisa O'Donovan Chronicles videos,(8 videos, not 9 as O'Donovan claims) unblocked and uncensored, can be found here:
https://www.bitchute.com/playlist/5yx8Fm7wg3mY/ 

Throughout 2022 O'Donovan has doubled-down on her lies and as long as she continues to so, I will continue to respond with videos; you can expect plenty more in 2023.

2022: OVERALL I HAD A GREAT YEAR

With all the hate been sent my way in 2022, one would be forgiven for believing that i had a miserable year. The reality is quite the opposite, overall I had a great year. I started a new job, which I really enjoy. I got a lot done around the house early in the year and I had a fantastic summer with my family and did a lot of snorkeling and wild swimming around the country. This is one of my favourite and most frequented spots:


I took an extended break from social media during the summer, not that I was ever on it much to begin with, but it was good not to be even looking at the toxic bile of my detractors. In September I took a look at all the links and screenshots that were sent to me by supporters and started to compile my Halloween Special video, I was very lax when it came to working on it, hence the lateness of its release.

My priorities for 2022 were Family, Work and Community and those will continue to be my priorities for 2023. However, I may decide to become more involved in community politics through the Public Participation Network, I'll see how the mood takes me.

2023: THE CHALLENGES AHEAD

On a personal level I will continue to strive to improve the quality of life for my family and community to the best of my ability.

It's hard to know what surprises that the Irish state has in store for the Irish nation, but given the ideological state of the political establishment we can expect more of our freedoms to be eroded.


All of the mainstream political parties support the introduction of "hate speech" legislation, no doubt this is because they all want to silence all voices that are concerned with illegal immigration and question the sanity of current government policy.

The neo-liberal coalition government of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party are virtually indistinguishable from the pseudo opposition parties of Sinn Féin, the Labour Party, the Social Democrats, Solidarity and People Before Profit. 

They are all pro abortion, pro open borders, pro carbon taxes, pro lockdowns, anti Irish nationalism and anti free speech. They only difference between the current neo-liberal  government and the far left so-called opposition is that those government-in-waiting parties think that the current shower don't go far enough.

All of them want to delimit private property and there is every possibility that we might see a referendum on "the right to housing" to trick people into voting away their property rights and giving the government the power to control all property. Some of the current neo-liberal gang have already floated the idea that older people living in big houses could hand their family homes over to the state in exchange for smaller accommodation. If a "right to housing" referendum were to pass they wouldn't be anything voluntary about it. 

If such a referendum is held then hopefully enough of the electorate can be convinced to vote against it, but with the legacy media totally in thrall to the ideological aims of the establishment it will be an uphill struggle.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I do hope that everyone had a peaceful and merry Christmas; I was fortunate enough to have spent mine surrounded by family and good friends #BestChristmasEver  

I wish you all a happy new year, even my detractors; such hate-filled people need to find happiness the most.... the truth will set you free lads

Until the next time....be seeing you.



Thursday, October 13, 2022

Mary Lou McDonald: A Republican Riddle - Book Launch


On Wednesday, 5 October 2022, I attended the book launch of “Mary Lou McDonald a Republican Riddle” by Shane Ross, which took place at Donehy & Nessbit on Baggot Street in Dublin. The book was launched by former RTE broadcaster Seán O’Rourke.

I had been invited to attend because I am mentioned in the book. had contacted me because he had read my blog in The Pensive Quill and he wanted to know more about what I had said in it; I was happy to engage with him and help him with his research and the verification of facts.

Related Links:

My Original Blog: https://cathalmccarthy1.blogspot.com/2016/02/im-not-anti-republican-i-just-dont-like.html

The Pensive Quill: https://www.thepensivequill.com/2016/02/im-not-anti-republican-i-just-dont-like.html

Buy Online: https://www.omahonys.ie/mary-lou-mcdonald-a-republican-riddle-p-10531122.html



Saturday, February 26, 2022

NEW DOCUMENTARY EXPOSES POLITICAL LIES

 EXPOSED: "Together for Safety" the Irish Independent and the Limerick Post

My latest video is a documentary exposing the lies and sectarianism of the Limerick based pro abortion group,Together for Safety, in their campaign to introduce a new law to establish "safe access zones" around the buildings of abortion providers.

Together for Safety commissioned and drafted the Safe Access to Termination of Pregnancy Services Bill 2021 and it was first introduced in the Seanad last year by Sinn Féin’s Limerick based Senator, Paul Gavan. Their Bill had been co-signed by other Senators, receiving cross-party from members of Sinn Féin, the Labour Party, the Green Party, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and some independents.

The basis for this cross-party support comes from a report that Together for Safety had issued, which supposedly details the harassment and intimidation of “pregnant people” trying to access abortion services, the same report that Labour’s Ivana Batchick TD had referred to in the Dáil in advance of the Seanad debate.

As the video shows, the report is a complete fabrication and the accusations that there is harassment and intimidation going on outside the Maternity hospital in Limerick are outright lies.

UPDATE:

The reaction of "Together for Safety" to my documentary was to ignore it.

The two co-conveners of "Together for Safety," Karen Sugrue and Yvie Murphy, have been very quite about my documentary; no doubt they don't want to draw attention to their brazen lies and the political fraud that they have committed with their bogus survey.

The closest that Sugrue came to mentioning it was in the following tweet:


"Accuse the other side of that which to are guilty" is exactly what Sugrue does all the time and when you expose their lies then you are "harassing" them.

Murphy, who went by the name "Yvie Ní" online, disappeared off the internet for a week and came back with a brand new identity, well sort of...




Murphy has chosen the evil witch from Disney's Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent, to be her new profile pic on Facebook.

"Maleficent" literally means "causing harm or destruction, especially by supernatural means." You could not make it up.

***********************************************

I upload videos to the following platforms:

BitChute: https://www.bitchute.com/video/hhfRIin1QdZd/

Odysee: https://odysee.com/@CathalMcCarthy:2/together-for-lies:c

Rumble: https://rumble.com/vvkrk3-february-22-2022.html

YouTube: https://youtu.be/uplcdBt-BMk

***********************************************

Sunday, October 31, 2021

COMMUNITY ACTIVIST CALLS FOR ABUSIVE COUNCILLOR TO BE CENSURED

 +++ PRESS RELEASE +++ Cathal McCarthy +++ PRESS RELEASE +++


COMMUNITY ACTIVIST CALLS FOR ABUSIVE COUNCILLOR TO BE CENSURED

A Limerick City community activist has called on Limerick City & County Council (LCCC) to censure one of their Councillors.

Cathal McCarthy, a community activist for over 20 years and a veteran of many successful local initiatives and campaigns, said that he has contacted all of the Councillors and the Management Team of LCCC to make a formal complaint about the outrageous lies that are being leveled against him by Cllr. Elisa O’Donovan in her social media posts and in her statements to the local and national media.

Mr. McCarthy has said that Cllr. O’Donovan’s falsehoods have caused him to become the target of a far-left hate campaign against him, a hate campaign that is being conducted with the approval of Cllr. O’Donovan.

“I caught Cllr. O’Donovan making an unholy show of herself outside the Sacred Heart Church in Limerick on Palm Sunday earlier this year. She falsely claimed on social and local media that she had been ‘harassed and intimidated’ by a cameraman. Cllr. O'Donovan's far-left associates in 'Limerick AntiFa' then identified me in a Facebook post as the cameraman and incited hatred towards me by claiming that I was a "fascist, homophobe, misogynist, Catholic fundamentalist, far-right activist." Worst of all, the vile and untrue Facebook post which was liked by Cllr. O'Donovan, also targeted my children, saying that they had ‘been indoctrinated to hate minorities", said Mr. McCarthy.

“My initial response to the lies being spread about me by Cllr. O'Donovan and her extremists pals, was simply to upload the unedited footage and show the truth of what happened. Thereby setting the record straight and exposing Cllr. O'Donovan as a barefaced liar, and we'd let that be the end of it. But Cllr. O'Donovan's response to my videos, rather than admitting fault and apologising, was instead to try and have them taken down to suppress the footage of what took place. She is continuing to post lies about me in her social media posts and is sending more hate my way” stated Mr. McCarthy

“I am now being called a stalker, a woman-targeter, and a host of other vile names; one of her followers even compared me to the murderer of British MP David Amess, and strongly implied that I would do the same to Cllr. O’Donovan - all because I defended myself against lies. It's insane. Since this began I have been getting crank calls and more recently I was recognised in public, accused of being a fascist and threatened with violence by two complete strangers all due to O’Donovan’s hate campaign”.

“This is the same Councillor that was demanding the resignation of her ex-lover, Brian Leddin TD, because he posted laugh reacts in a private group chat 3 years ago in reply to derogatory things that were being said about her - by other group members. Ironically, this is the same Councillor who claims to be campaigning for an end to online abuse - all while she engages in it, you couldn’t make it up! I am beginning to agree with her former lover, Deputy Brian Leddin, when he said that she was an unhinged seeker of fame; he may have apologised for what was recently leaked from a 3-year old private chat, but he never said it wasn’t true” said Mr McCarthy.

“She has to be brought to book and held to account, she’s a Councillor for my local electoral area and it is absolutely disgraceful how she is targeting me and my family. Councillors are required to adhere to the Local Government Act 2001 - Code of Conduct for Councillors and Cllr. O'Donovan's conduct has violated several sections of the code, including: 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 4.11, and 9.4. I called on the elected members of Limerick City & County Council, to censure Cllr. O'Donovan for her appalling behaviour outside the Sacred Heart Church on Palm Sunday, which she not only has refused to apologise for but even has defended, and for the outrageous lies she has spread about me in her desperate attempts to silence and discredit me.”

“Hopefully that call will put an end to Cllr. O’Donovan’s online hate campaign against me and that the Council will never allow this to happen to another person again”. said Mr. McCarthy

+++ NOTE TO JOURNALISTS +++

Forwarded below for your information and use is the email that I sent to the Councillors

Watch my latest YouTube video to learn more about my community activism, the harassment I’m getting and my response to Cllr. Donovan's recent Twitter hate fest: https://youtu.be/SOf33y2S1NE

++++++


---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Cathal McCarthy <cathalgmccarthy@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2021 at 12:32
Subject: Councillor's outrageous behaviour and defamatory lies needs to be halted
To: Adam Teskey <adam.teskey@limerick.ie>, Azad Talukder <azad.talukder@limerick.ie>, Bridie Collins <bridie.collins@limerick.ie>, Brigid Teefy <brigid.teefy@limerick.ie>, Catherine Slattery <catherine.slattery@limerick.ie>, Conor Sheehan <conor.sheehan@limerick.ie>, Dan McSweeney <dan.mcsweeney@limerick.ie>, Eddie Ryan <eddie.ryan@limerick.ie>, Elena Secas <elena.secas@limerick.ie>, Elisa O'Dondvan <elisa.odonovan@limerick.ie>, Emmett O'Brien <emmett.obrien@limerick.ie>, Fergus Kilcoyne <fergus.kilcoyne@limerick.ie>, Francis Foley <francis.foley@limerick.ie>, Frankie Daly <frankie.daly@limerick.ie>, Gerald Mitchell <gerald.mitchell@limerick.ie>, James Collins <james.collins@limerick.ie>, Jerome Scanlan <jerome.scanlan@limerick.ie>, Jerry O'Dea <jerry.odea@limerick.ie>, Joe Leddin <joe.leddin@limerick.ie>, John Costello <john.costelloe@limerick.ie>, John Egan <john.egan@limerick.ie>, John O'Donoghue <johnj.odonoghue@limerick.ie>, John Sheahan <john.sheahan@limerick.ie>, Kevin Sheahan <kevin.sheahan@limerick.ie>, Kieran O'Hanlon <kieran.ohanlon@limerick.ie>, Liam Galvin <liam.galvin@limerick.ie>, Martin Ryan <martin.ryan@limerick.ie>, Mayor Daniel Butler <daniel.butler@limerick.ie>, Michael Collins <michael.collins@limerick.ie>, Michael Donegan <michael.donegan@limerick.ie>, Michael Murphy <michael.murphy@limerick.ie>, Michael Sheahan <michael.sheahan@limerick.ie>, Olivia O'Sullivan <olivia.osullivan@limerick.ie>, PJ Carey <pj.carey@limerick.ie>, Sarah Kiely <sarah.kiely@limerick.ie>, Sasa Novak <sasa.novak@limerick.ie>, Sean Hartigan <sean.hartigan@limerick.ie>, Sharon Benson <sharon.benson@limerick.ie>, Stephen Keary <stephen.keary@limerick.ie>, Tom Ruddle <tom.ruddle@limerick.ie>


Dear Councillors,

My name is Cathal McCarthy, I am a community activist living in the local electoral area of Limerick City West. 

Some of you will know me from my time as a community representative on the Council's Environmental Strategic Policy Committee (2013-14) and on the Council's Local Community Development Committee (2014-16) and some of you will know me from attending meetings in my home with the Weston Gardens Residents' Association and through my voluntary work with Limerick Regeneration WatchUnfortunately, many of you probably know of me because of a slew of slanderous lies propagated recently by one of your colleagues, such as the Twitter post below. 

On Friday, 8th October 2021, a Councillor for my local electoral area of Limerick City West, Cllr. Elisa O'Donovan, tweeted the following: 

As part of @NWCI #StopOnlineAbuse I will start with my experience of @YouTube. A series of videos has been made about me this yr. This is a compilation of some of those videos. YouTube tells me these are not in violation of guidelines and to deal directly with the content creator pic.twitter.com/kW7tCrkhst

— Cllr Elisa O'Donovan (@elisaodonovan) October 8, 2021
As part of Cllr. O'Donovan's tweet to advertise her participation in an upcoming National Women's Council of Ireland (NWCI) webinar about online abuse (in order to boost her profile), O'Donovan uploaded an out-of-context video compilation of clips from my videos, which identified me as the content creator and prompted her supporters to go on a reporting spree trying to get my YouTube channel taken down. Cllr. O'Donovan even managed to get it reported on in the Irish Examiner, where my name is clearly visible in the video part of her embedded tweet.

This was not the first time that there was an attack on my good name and character by Cllr. O'Donovan and it would not be the last.

The attacks started in March of this year, specifically on Palm Sunday after I had filmed Cllr. O'Donovan's unhinged antics (if you can think of a better description, please let me know) outside the Sacred Heart Church, where she tried her best to disrupt the socially-distanced Rosary that was taking place outside its locked doors as Mass was being said inside; the congregants were praying for an end to the ban on Mass, which had been imposed by central government as part of its lock-down policy.

On Sunday, 27th December 2020, I received a phone call from a friend of mine (who is a member of the congregation) to ask me to film the Rosary every Sunday; he believed that my tripod and camera would act as a deterrent to any sectarian bigots intent on disrupting their prayers. I wasn't up to much on a Sunday morning, so I told him I'd be happy to oblige.

Every Sunday I would position myself on the steps of Georgian building, off the footpath and away from everyone, on the other side of the Crescent opposite the O'Connell monument traffic Island, where I had a direct view of the congregants, the church and all approaches. 

When I had agreed to act as cameraman to deter sectarian disruption I thought that my friend was being paranoid, but I was to be proven wrong when on Sunday, 21st March 2021, two women would try their best to disrupt the prayers and provoke a reaction from the congregation by going in among them blaring loud satanic music with disgusting lyrics (really disgusting) through a high-volume Bluetooth speaker. Later that day Cllr. O'Donovan tweeted her support for the disgraceful anti-social behaviour of the two women, who she describes as her "constituents," and publicly congratulated them on their choice of music posting "Great tunes by the way,"  followed by a devil-horns emoji.

The following week, on Palm Sunday, Cllr. O Donovan turned up and put on an unholy show for my camera;  she was aware that I was filming as she started shouting at me across the road (presumably thinking I would stop filming or leave because of her position), she then proceeded to call the Gardaí on the Catholics. Before they arrived, she then began to run around counting the congregants while making exaggerated pointing gesturesPausing briefly to post about her "representations" on behalf of her "constituents," she then proceeded to walk around filming the congregants up close before shouting at them, ordering them to "move on" to to "pray privately in your own homes." She did all that while claiming to be acting with the authority of the Council and doing her job as a Councillor.

When Cllr. O'Donovan started shouting I crossed the road to the O'Connell monument to get better audio. When she had finished bellowing orders at the congregants she crossed the road to where I was standing as I was setting up the tripod, so I decided to ask her some questions about her contradictory and hypocritical behaviour; illegally drinking beer in the People Park and boasting about it Facebook, attending crowded events during lock down (such as a non-socially-distanced protest of 250+ people in Arthur's Quay, and a residents' protest/party in Catherine Street). Cllr. O'Donovan ignored my questions and insisted to me that she was a Councillor and that she was there doing her job as a Councillor.

Later that day, Cllr. O'Donovan posted lies on her various social media accounts that she had come to the aid of her beleaguered "constituents" and claimed that the two women had endured weeks of harassment and intimidation by the congregants praying the Rosary; not only that but she then went on to claim that she herself had experienced harassment and intimidation from a cameraman. 

The following day the Limerick Leader ran a story reiterating her claims without question and Cllr. O'Donovan's far-left associates in "Limerick Against Fascism" made a Facebook post identifying me as the cameraman and inciting hatred towards me by claiming that I was a "fascist, homophobe, misogynist, Catholic fundamentalist, far-right activist." This vile and untrue Facebook post, which was liked by Cllr. O'Donovan, also targeted my children, saying that they had "been indoctrinated to hate minorities." (It is regrettable to note that other Councillors also appear to be supporters of this hateful Facebook page).

Ever since then I have been getting crank calls from their supporters and I am increasingly being recognised and approached in public by strangers, more recently I was able to get footage of being shouted at and labelled a fascist and being threatened with violence by two complete strangers.

My initial response, to the lies being spread about me by Cllr. O'Donovan and her extremists pals, was simply to upload the unedited footage and show the truth of what happened. Thereby setting the record straight and exposing Cllr. O'Donovan as a barefaced liar, and we'd let that be the end of it. Cllr. O'Donovan's response to my videos was to try and have them taken down to suppress the truth. In this regard Cllr. O'Donovan had some success in getting one of my YouTube videos blocked in Ireland.

On Thursday, 14th October 2021, the NWCI held their webinar and it was very interesting to finally hear the explanation given by Cllr. O'Donovan on how she got my "Elisa Lies" video on blocked on YouTube in Ireland. That video was the exposé on Cllr. O'Donovan and her antics that was starting to go viral. Some say it was the best video on O'Donovan that they've ever seen (and thankfully it was not totally suppressed as it's still available on BitchuteOdysee and Rumble). 

During the NWCI webinar Zoom call, Cllr. O'Donovan said:

"I've spoken about my experience of trying to get videos taken down: very misogynistic, really disgusting videos about me on YouTube. I couldn’t get them taken down. First of all, I put in a breach of privacy complaint and I was told to deal directly with the content creator, so they wanted me to deal directly with the person who was abusing me which I obviously did not feel safe to do. The second thing I did then was put in a copyright because they were manipulating my own videos to make me out looking like a witch, and that was also refused. So I had to result in getting a solicitor to put in very specific defamation claims and all that resulted in was some of the videos being blocked in Ireland but they could be viewed in the rest of the world." 

Nothing that Cllr. O'Donovan said is actually true.

My videos are neither misogynistic nor disgusting and many have described them as informative and witty. 

First, Cllr. O'Donovan put in a privacy complaint for a 3-minute section of a video of her unhinged antics outside the Sacred Heart Church, it was for the 3 minute exchange that took place between us after she crossed the road to confront me. Her complaint was rejected by YouTube because she was a public representative that was filmed in a public place while claiming to be carrying out her duty as a Councillor; there was no invasion of privacy. 

Regarding her statement about having to contact me, the only time that YouTube requires the complainant to contact the content creator directly is in the case of a defamation claim and that contact can take the form of an email or letter from the complainant (or their solicitor) to the content creator. I have had absolutely no correspondence from either O'Donovan or her solicitor.

There is absolutely no requirement for the complainant to call to see the content creator in person, as the mendacious Councillor implied during the NWCI Zoom call, and even if that were the case, why would she fear for her safety? She knows full well that I have never behaved menacingly or threateningly towards her, nor would I ever behave in such a manner.  

As my video, "Cllr. Elisa O'Donovan calls the Guards (unedited)" (the video that she complained about to YouTube for 'invasion of privacy') shows, she had no problem shouting at me (unprovoked) from across the road, she had no fear whatsoever in walking up to me and recording me up close and in my face, she had no problem walking across the road to me to insult me and make snide remarks about my attempt to help the people in my electoral area. At no time did I approach her, but she saw nothing wrong broadcasting lies about me online and in the local media, saying that I had intimidated and harassed her.

It was her lies to the media and getting her far-left associates to launch an online hate campaign targeting me and my children that prompted me to make the videos in the first place. If Cllr. O'Donovan hadn't lied, there would have been no need for my videos - they would never have been published as I was just there to deter sectarian bigotry, although unfortunately it was not enough to deter Cllr. O'Donovan.

Contrary to what Cllr. O'Donovan stated, there is no need to contact the content creator for a YouTube copyright claim, but for copyright claims to be successful they must either go unchallenged (I challenged her claims against my comedy videos under 'fair use') or the complainant must show YouTube that they are taking a court action against the content creator.

Cllr. O'Donovan claimed that she had to get a solicitor (described as "very expensive" in a tweet by O'Donovan where she also likened me to a mass murderer) to make a "specific" defamation claim to YouTube.

YouTube's policy on defamation specifically requires the complainant to contact the content creator directly via email or letter and as I previously stated, I have had absolutely no correspondence whatsoever from either O'Donovan or her solicitor regarding my videos or any other issues for that matter. This most likely indicates that she had her ''very expensive'' solicitor lie to YouTube on her behalf and claim that they had attempted to contact me or were issuing court proceedings against me for defamation.

Cllr. O'Donovan is no stranger to taking defamation cases against a private citizens when she feels slighted and offended by what they said about her online (or even privately). So why hasn't she taken a case against me? 

Could it be that I don't come across as the kind of mark that you could shake down for €10,000 in an out-of-court settlement? Could it be the fact that I would actually relish the opportunity to defend my side of the story (which has been ignored by the media) and my videos in court?

I didn't defame O'Donovan at all, she did that all by herself when she made a holy show of herself by harassing Catholics as they prayed the Rosary outside the Sacred Heart Church in Limerick on Palm Sunday.

I did not initiate calling Cllr. O'Donovan a witch, she called herself a witch in a series of tweets; I merely picked up on the fact and portrayed her as a witch simply for comedic effect in light of her own self-identification. She also wore a top calling herself a "gowl," which like the censored 'C' word (c*%#) that she claimed to have caused her so much upset, is a derogatory word for female genitalia. "Gowl" is also used as a slang word to describe an annoying person, an idiot and a dishonest person.

Unlike the defamation case against the private citizen that Cllr. O'Donovan currently has before Limerick Circuit Court, I have actually named O'Donovan and it is very obvious to all who watch the videos that she is the one I'm speaking about. 

In Cllr. O'Donovan's current defamation case she wasn't actually named at all in the online post that she alleges has defamed her, she simply claims that the post was about her and promptly issued court proceedings. The case has no merit and if it isn't dropped before it is heard then the Judge will undoubtedly throw it out and award costs against O'Donovan. Her defamation case is little more than an abuse of law; a contemptible attempt by a politician to publicly blacken the good name of a private citizen.

Instead of taking similar bogus legal action against me, Cllr. O'Donovan is instead choosing to abuse her position as a public representative to blacken my name online and in both the local and national media. If Cllr. O'Donovan was doing this as a private citizen then I wouldn't be contacting you, but all of O'Donovan's lies about me have been told while she was wearing the mantle of Councillor and having biased sycophantic journalists publish her lies without bothering to contact me for the other side of the story or to even watch the footage to see who really was at fault. 

It is completely unacceptable that an elected member of Limerick City & County Council (LCCC) would abuse their position to target a private citizen in a smear campaign of lies, and to condone and encourage harassment by far-left extremists. 

As Councillors you should be aware of your role and function and fulfill your annual legal obligation of reading and adhering to the Local Government Act 2001 - Code of Conduct for Councillors. As you are undoubtedly aware from the Code of Conduct for Councillors, Cllr. O'Donovan's conduct has violated several sections of the code, including: 2.1,  2.2,  2.3,  4.11, and 9.4.

I call on you, the elected members of Limerick City & County Council, to censure Cllr. O'Donovan for appalling behaviour outside the Sacred Heart Church on Palm Sunday, which she not only has refused to apologise for but even has defended, and for the outrageous lies she has spread about me in her desperate attempts to silence and discredit me. 

In the meantime, until this matter is resolved, I will continue with my fringe journalism to produce video exposés when they are required (see my response video to Councillor O'Donovan's latest Twitter hate fest: Antifa Calling: Councillor Elisa O'Donovan and her Far-Left Associates).

Yours Sincerely,

Cathal
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Cathal McCarthy,
Independent Community Activist,