MEP Luke 'Ming' Flanagan says abuse towards his family was ...
Irish MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan has said the online abuse directed at him and his family after his Twitter account was hacked has been “very difficult”.
In a Belgian court today former European parliamentary assistant Diarmuid Hayes, 34, from Dublin admitted hacking the Twitter account of Mr Flanagan and posting a Tweet from his account that referred to Irish Green Party candidate Saoirse McHugh as skinny dipping.
The Tweet, posted on September 28, 2020, was posted from a third party app known as TweetDeck without Mr Flanagan’s knowledge.
Mr Flanagan said his family had been “put through hell” and he was forced to seek therapy due to the online backlash.
“It has been difficult, not so much for me, it’s been difficult to watch how difficult it’s been for my family,” he told The Tonight Show.
“Comments made to me in front of my children at the school gate, obscene pictures that were created on the internet shown to my nine-year-old child.
“It’s been very very difficult. It has affected my children, it’s affected one of my daughters particularly and it’s affected me.
“Maybe some people don’t know it, I have autism, and life can be challenging enough without having to deal with rubbish like this.”
Mr Flanagan said the abuse he received since the Tweet was sent from his account was “relentless”.
“In court today he said he hadn’t expected it to do so much damage, he said it peaked after one day.
“It may well have peaked after one day but it continued after that at a ferocious rate, even up until a couple of weeks ago.”
Mr Flanagan said the online abuse “persisted”, targeting his family and his sick wife.
“This is difficult for your family to listen to,” he said.
He said: “The good news for me is that it couldn’t be cleared, I didn’t Tweet what was Tweeted and it is obvious who did it.
“I also want to say that this can’t be easy on Saoirse McHugh either, having to listen to all this rubbish. People have to deal with enough in their lives so overall I’m glad it's nearly at an end.”
Mr Flanagan said he has been in contact with Ms McHugh throughout the legal process.
“There is no problem there. She is a very reasonable individual and a very skilled politician and hopefully we will see her elected sometime in the future,” he said.
“All round it's just a relief. Anytime if you hear that a politician has had their account hacked the first thing people say is ‘I don’t believe them’, and what I hope out of this will be that in the future no one will continue to throw this at me.
“I’ve had my named cleared today and it’s been a good day in that sense,” he added.
