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Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan tweet trial: What exactly happened and was this an act of revenge or just a joke?

Former assistant retained access to MEP’s Twitter account after taking it over during National Ploughing Championships

Diarmuid Hayes worked as a parliamentary assistant for Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan between 2018 and 2019. On Monday he was sentenced to 150 hours of community service for sending a tweet from Flanagan's Twitter account.

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Jack Power
Mon Mar 25 2024 - 16:24

A post appeared on MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan’s Twitter account in the early hours of September 28th, 2020, and quickly went viral.

“Sapirse mchugh photo skinny dipping,” it stated.

It was deleted soon after, but screenshots continued to circulate widely. The damage was done.

Flanagan, an Independent MEP for Midlands North West since 2014, said he was shocked when he woke that morning and checked his Twitter, now X, account. He released a statement hours later stating his social media account had been “compromised”. He later admitted that few would believe a politician who claimed to have been hacked following a controversial post.

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The tweet gave the impression that Flanagan had intended to search online for photographs of Saoirse McHugh, a former Green Party election candidate, but had mistakenly posted the intended search words on Twitter.

It was only following an investigation on foot of a criminal complaint made to Belgian police that it emerged Flanagan’s former employee was behind the post.

Diarmuid Hayes (33), a film-maker originally from Dublin, worked as a parliamentary assistant to Flanagan from January 2018 until July 2019. His role focused on communications and video production.

[ Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan’s former assistant sentenced to community service over ‘skinny dipping’ tweet ]

Hayes grew up in Charlemont, an estate off Griffith Avenue. He studied communications at Dublin City University and was heavily involved with the college’s media society. Before working in Brussels, he freelanced in production and editing, which included a stint working for RTÉ on an Irish language documentary series.

When Flanagan retained his seat in the 2019 European elections, Hayes expected he would be kept on. However, a one-year contract extension was later revoked and the pair fell out.

It is understood that one point of tension was a complaint made about accommodation rented for staff in Co Roscommon during the election campaign. One source said there was an inner circle and an outer circle within Flanagan’s staff, with Hayes in the latter.

Speaking on Monday after his former assistant was sentenced to community service, Independent MEP Luke 'Ming' Flanagan said he was glad the matter was over.

Giving evidence in the Palace of Justice in Brussels in February, Hayes said he felt he had been treated poorly in the final months of his employment. After his contract was not renewed, he said he was unemployed for a period and regularly smoked cannabis.

Flanagan made a point of changing the passwords to his social media accounts after Hayes departed. But his former employee later found he was still able to access the MEP’s Twitter account through a third-party app, Tweetcaster.

The MEP told the Belgian court Hayes was given access to his Twitter account via the app during the 2018 National Ploughing Championships. This, he said, was because he would “generally have to deal with about 10,000 people” on each of the event’s three days “who all seem to want to take their photograph with me, and I am exceptionally busy”.

Luke 'Ming' Flanagan told the court his then assistant was given access to this Twitter account via the app during the 2018 National Ploughing Championships. Photograph: Tom Honan

Using Tweetcaster, Hayes was able to post from the politician’s account in the early hours of September 28th, 2020. He told the court he was up late smoking cannabis and sent the post as an “impulsive” joke. He had “second thoughts right away” and tried to limit the impact by deleting it.

The 'impulsive joke' tweet that caused an Irish MEP three years of 'torture'

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With Naomi O'Leary and Jack Power report. Presented by Bernice Harrison

Hayes secured a job working for the European Commission as a corporate video producer the following year. Two days after his daughter was born, he received a call informing him that a criminal investigation opened over the tweet had led to problems with his security clearance. This meant he would have to leave his job, which he did early last year.

He was later charged with fraudulently intending to damage Flanagan’s reputation. When the case came to court, he apologised and sought mercy from the judge.

Giving evidence, Flanagan said he had been ridiculed and his family had received abuse due to the post. He said it was only when the criminal case against Hayes came before the courts that the extent of the abuse he was receiving began to subside.

“If he had come out straight away, I would immediately have been cleared,” Flanagan said. “This was anything but an accident. It was a cold, calculated, skilfully carried out attempt to destroy me.”

The case was heard in a small courtroom in the bowels of the Palace of Justice. Flanagan and Hayes sat on benches several feet apart, each with an interpreter to help them follow the proceedings as they were carried out in French.

During a February hearing, public prosecutor Thomas Descamps sought a one-year sentence for Hayes, who he claimed had been motivated by “revenge”. Charlotte Henderickx, a lawyer representing Hayes, asked the court to sentence her client to community service.

On Monday, Judge Isabelle Jacquemin chastised Mr Hayes for his actions. She sentenced him to 150 hours community service and fined him €5,000, plus related court costs.

Speaking afterwards, Flanagan said he was glad the matter was over.

“My name has been cleared,” he said.

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