Limerick TD reaches out to UL following 'alarming' harassment campaign against Ella Deasy
Ms Deasy emailed the UL Student Accommodation Service after the first incident, but said she was told nothing could be done and that posting videos on social media had made her a target. Picture: Instagram/@elladeasyy
The story of a University of Limerick (UL) student who experienced a targeted and sustained campaign of harassment by a group of 200 men has been described as shocking by the former further education minister.
Patrick O'Donovan, who is from Limerick, said it is "alarming to see a young woman targeted in this way".
Influencer Ella Deasy posted a TikTok video in August 2024 looking to make friends after securing a room in Kilmurry Village, a popular first-year student complex on the UL campus.
Ms Deasy shared that a young man who had previously posted about egging her house saw her on the day she moved in, and the situation quickly escalated when a WhatsApp group of 200 men was created.
The group chat, which included UL students, organised a campaign which intended to destroy her accommodation, Ms Deasy said in videos she posted to her 190,000 TikTok followers.
"I think it was half four in the morning, two boys were screaming my name outside my bedroom window. It wasn't even outside the house, it was actually the back of the house so they knew exactly which bedroom was mine," Ms Deasy said.
Over the course of several nights, large groups of these young men came to her home and pelted the house with eggs, yoghurt, glass bottles while shouting her name and, on some occasions, "tried to kick the door in".
Ms Deasy emailed the UL Student Accommodation Service after the first incident, but said she was told nothing could be done and that posting videos on social media had made her a target.
She also reported the incidents to gardaĂ, who caught a group of around 10 young men, put them in their car, and took their details.
Despite repeated complaints to accommodation services, Ms Deasy claims nothing was done about the situation until she contacted UL's president — who quickly had her moved to another residence.
In a statement to the a spokesperson for UL said concerns about student welfare are taken extremely seriously.
"A number of increased mitigation measures can be used to ensure the safety and security of our students including increased security patrols, house meetings with security and village management, follow-up welfare checks and, where necessary, relocation," they said.
Mr O'Donovan, now minister for culture and media, told the he has reached out to the senior leadership at the university about Ms Deasy's case and said he is confident the university will "act swiftly to prevent something like this happening again".
Sinn Féin TD Mairéad Farrell, who raised the issue in the Dáil, said UL has reached out to her to arrange a meeting to talk about ways all third-level institutes can best support their students.
"This is not about one institution," Ms Farrell said. "We need to ensure that all our third level institutes have supports and processes in place to make sure no student feels unsafe while trying to get an education."
There needs to be education on bullying, harassment, and gender-based violence for young men and women throughout their educational career, Ms Farrell said.
