MEP: My ‘pikey’ comment was by Twitter hacker

IRELAND South MEP Alan Kelly has been asked to prove his official Labour party Twitter account was hacked, after a message from his online profile used the term “pikey” to refer to a member of the Travelling community.

The remark was made in an online message to 198 users sent out last night from the Brussels-based politician’s account.

At about 6pm yesterday, followers of Mr Kelly received a message update from the Munster representative’s personal account, described as “the official Twitter of Labour MEP for Munster”.