Irish language activist Linda Ervine has described the “horrendous” online abuse she has faced over her efforts to set up the first Gaelscoil in east Belfast.
The founder of the Turas Irish language project in the loyalist heartland spoke of the continued abuse and threats against the planned school made on social media platforms in a documentary screened this week on TG4.
Ms Ervine, the sister-in-law of the late former PUP leader David Ervine, is behind east Belfast’s first ever Irish language primary school, Scoil na Seolta - temporary buildings for which have been approved in the Montgomery Road area.
Primary one pupils are expected to be begin classes in September next year, and a long-term goal is to move the school to the former Orangefield High School site.
However, the school has faced opposition, including from the UVF and UDA-linked Loyalist Communities Council.
Meanwhile, in October a banner was placed anonymously on a fence at the Montgomery Road site calling for the planned school to be moved “to where it is wanted”.
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Days later, new banners referring to the school appeared in the Castlereagh Road and Clonduff Drive areas, and police said they were treating them as “sectarian hate incidents”.
In the TG4 documentary, An Gréasán Gráiniúil (The Toxic Web), it was shown how Ms Ervine has received messages online accusing her of being a “well-paid token prod” and even a “trojan horse of the IRA/Sinn Féin”.
“It’s difficult sometimes - I’m the target,” she told presenter and journalist Kevin Magee.
“They say things like ‘she’s only in it for the money’ and ‘useful idiot’ among other comments.
“It’s hard seeing insults and accusations online and I find it upsetting, particularly when you see it’s just nonsense.”
Images shared online targeting Ms Ervine include one with her face superimposed on a Sinn Féin poster alongside First Minister Michelle O’Neill and North Belfast MP John Finucane.
“When we first started the school there were a lot of online threats. They were talking about burning it to the ground - they were talking about carrying out attacks,” she said.
She added of the most recent abuse: “It was horrendous, it was very very upsetting and it was hurtful.
“I’m a human being - I don’t want to read insults; I don’t want to read false information. I’m doing my job, that’s all.”
Ms Ervine said she reported abuse to Facebook with screenshots, but was told that no rules were broken.
Guidelines by Meta, Facebook’s parent company, says it reviews and removes “anything that goes against our community standards”.
The Irish News approached Meta for comment.
An Gréasán Gráiniúil is available to view on the TG4 Player.
