AN INDEPENDENT MEP has claimed his Twitter account was hacked after it posted a late-night comment about naked photographs of a former Green Party candidate.
Luke 'Ming' Flanagan's account on the social media platform tweeted, "Sapirse mchugh photo skinny dipping" at 2.50am yesterday, apparently a misspelled reference to Saoirse McHugh.
The post was later deleted, but screengrabs of the comment were shared online by other Twitter users.
The tweet could be a reference to photos of Ms McHugh swimming which previously appeared in The Guardian newspaper.
Mr Flanagan later posted a comment suggesting his account had been hacked.
"Have just changed my password. I believe my account was compromised. I am contacting to twitter to establish what has happened (sic). Some nasty people out there. Mind yourselves," he tweeted.
Ms McHugh told the Irish Independent that Mr Flanagan contacted her earlier to inform her of the matter, and she accepted his explanation.
Mr Flanagan is a close political ally of Ms McHugh, campaigning for her in the general election.
The Midlands North West MEP defended her online on Monday during an online spat with the Irish Farmers' Association.
"She has more integrity in her smallest finger nail than your whole organisation. She'll be an MEP yet. We'd be lucky to have her," he said.
