Luke Ming Flanagan says his account was hacked following tweet about picture of Saoirse McHugh

MEP Luke 'Ming' Flanagan believes his Twitter account was compromised. Picture: Mick McCormack

Luke 'Ming' Flanagan, the Independent MEP has said a late-night Twitter comment about naked pictures of former Green Party candidate Saoirse McHugh were as a result of his account being hacked.

His account tweeted “Sapirse mchugh photo skinny dipping (sp)" at 2.50 am on Monday morning, but the former TD have moved to insist hackers were to blame.

The tweet in question was deleted but several different versions of the tweet by way of screen grabs of the comment were shared online.

It is possible that the tweet was in reference to photos of Ms McHugh swimming which previously appeared in the Guardian newspaper.

"Have just changed my password. I believe my account was compromised. I am contacting to twitter to establish what has happened (sp). Some nasty people out there. Mind yourselves," he tweeted.

Have just changed my password. I believe my account was compromised. I am contacting to twitter to establish what's has happened. Some nasty people out there. Mind yourselves.

— Luke 'Ming' Flanagan (@lukeming) September 28, 2020

Ms McHugh has since said Mr Flanagan made contact with her to explain what had happened. 

She said she was not aware of the issue before his contact.

Ms McHugh said she accepts Mr Flanagan's comments.