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Dublin Live
Dublin Live
National
Darragh Berry

Dublin Councillor apologises following 3am incident that 'frightened the life' out of 84-year-old woman

A Dublin Councillor has said that he feels absolutely "awful" after "frightening the life" out of an elderly woman in Raheny as his campaigners put up posters.

Fine Gael Councillor, Terence Flanagan, had people hanging election posters up in the area at 3am when they woke the 84-year-old woman who immediately became on edge after spotting the workers.

Her son, Gordon Geraghty, took to Facebook to say that his mother woke him up "to say there were men outside her house at 3:10 a.m. with ladders".

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Gordon confronted the campaigners, and posted videos doing so online, but they refused to respond to him as he searched for an apology.

One person commented underneath the videos and said that "there has been enough gangs around frightening people without Terence Flanagan doing the same.

"Was it so important to do it at this hour? Was it going to get him any extra votes? I don’t think so. 

"I think an apology is needed here. It’s not going to get any votes but it would be the decent thing to do."

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Terence has apologised for the incident and said that he feels "awful" following the encounter.

A spokeswoman for the Councillor told Dublin Live that: "The crews were out really late because we couldn't put up posters until after midnight.

"We told the crew not to interact with anyone. People often come up and say 'you shouldn't be hanging posters here or there' so we thought it was best practice if they didn't engage with anyone while working.

"That's why they did not respond when confronted by Gordon."

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The spokeswoman added that Terence had been in contact with Gordon and his mother and that the issue had been resolved.

She added: "Terence feels awful and is really sorry about the whole thing. He didn't mean to upset her. We've contacted her and she is okay. 

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"Terence apologised to the woman and Gordon and they have accepted the apology.

"He wants to make contact with the her again though just to make sure she's all right and to make things right."

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