Luke 'Ming' Flanagan says Saoirse McHugh 'skinny dipping' post ...
“It's been very difficult and it has affected my children, it's affected one of my daughters particularly and it's affected me”
MEP's Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan has spoken of the effect the Saoirse McHugh ‘skinny dipping’ post hack had on his life and that of his family.
Speaking after a former assistant admitted in court that he hacked the MEP’s social media and posted a tweet about the former Green Party member, Ms McHugh, Flanagan said it had been a long and difficult road.
“I’m careful saying that because I know there’s a lot of people tuning into this show that are having a hard time, I suppose, they don’t want to listen to a poor old politician,” he told The Tonight Show.
“But it has been difficult, and not so much for me, it's been difficult to watch how difficult it has been for my family.
“Comments made to me in front of my children at the school gate, obscene pictures that were created on the Internet over this shown to my nine-year-old child and my child asking me, ‘Daddy, what’s this about?’
“It's been very difficult and it has affected my children, it's affected one of my daughters particularly and it's affected me. I'm someone who has, maybe people don't know, autism, and life can be challenging enough without having to deal with rubbish like this.
In September 2020, the Midlands-Northwest MEP claimed his Twitter account had been hacked after a comment about former Green Party candidate Saoirse McHugh skinny dipping was posted on the social media platform.
The post was later deleted but an investigation was launched after the politician reported the issue to the European Parliament who then handed the case over to the authorities in Brussels.
Former European parliamentary assistant Diarmuid Hayes from Dublin admitted to a Belgian court this week that he had hacked the Twitter account of Mr Flanagan and posted 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.
According to RTÉ, the 34-year-old told the court that he was upset with the MEP for not renewing his contract.
He said that he had been smoking cannabis on the night he published the controversial post as “a joke.”
However, the court heard that the social media post had led to Luke Ming Flanagan’s family being “put through hell”.
The court heard how his wife and children had suffered abuse on the street over the post with a mocking montage referring to the post shown to his nine-year-old daughter.
A friend had asked his daughter: “What was your daddy at?”
His older daughter, who is 19 and suffers from autism, had become afraid to leave the house unless she was with her father.
The court heard that Luke Ming Flanagan sought therapy over the media coverage “that was absolutely massive” with Ming reflecting that “the fact that I'm innocent will not get as much coverage. I’ll pay the price for this forever”.
According to the prosecutor, the post had been published in the early hours of the morning with a deliberate spelling mistake to make it look like the MEP had been drunkenly searching for photos.
The court heard that it was a calculated act of revenge and that Diarmuid Hayes had knowingly thrown the MEP’s honour “to the dogs.”
Ming Flanagan said that he did not accept Mr Hayes' apology, saying: “Sorry doesn’t add up. This was a cold, calculated and skilfully carried out attempt to destroy me.”
According to RTÉ, the Belgian prosecutor in the case has sought a one year prison sentence for Diarmuid Hayes on the back of the case.
Sentencing for the case has been put back to March 25.
Flanagan added that he was “it's nearly over now” and said he was looking forward to the sentencing hearing.
“I don't like to see anyone going to prison,” he insisted. “I don't like to see anyone’s life made tough, but that individual now is potentially facing a year in prison, either that or a suspended sentence, potentially community service and no criminal record.
“But the good news for me now is, it couldn't be clearer. I didn't tweet what was tweeted and it's obvious who did it.
"I also want to say as well 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.”
