MEP claims tweeted Anglo rant was due to hack

The revelation of the Anglo tapes may have sparked communal expletives from an irate nation but such language isn’t normally heard from the country’s politicians.

Fine Gael MEP Jim Higgins seemed to break rank with that convention on social media with a colourful remark on the topic overnight.

A message was posted on the Twitter account of the North West of Ireland MEP at 2.40am yesterday with the observation: “ANGLO can fuck off . Those tapes are digusting [sic].”

Naturally such unparliamentary language, as well as poor spelling, sparked concern that Mr Higgins was spouting uncharacteristically forceful late-night opinions from his base in Brussels.

However, the former TD subsequently claimed his Twitter account had been hacked after the comments had sparked some controversy and media attention.

“Account hacked. Foul-language tweet not from me. Investigating hacker,” said Mr Higgins, using the same account later yesterday.

While he conceded that the content of the Anglo tapes was indeed “disgusting”, Mr Higgins insisted that he would never use such language on his Twitter account.

In a later statement, the MEP said he wished to confirm that the account had been hacked overnight and that he was unaware of the offending tweet until he was contacted by the media.

Like the collapse of the country’s banking system, the issue of his Twitter account being hacked remains under investigation.