Máiría Cahill, SDLP councillor and sex abuse survivor, has been forced to pull out of local elections in the North over fears for her safety.
Ms Cahill said there are “concerns around my safety” and that there is a “court order in place in order to try and protect myself and my daughter”. Had she been standing for the Assembly or as a Westminster candidate her home address would not have been an issue, because the law has been changed to protect such candidates. But the law was never extended to cover local government.
Meanwhile, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said it was a “disgrace that a victim whose safety would be jeopardised by publication of her address is not afforded the same protection in a local government election that every Assembly and Westminster candidate can avail of”.