A former parliamentary assistant to MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan has been sentenced to 150 hours of community service for sending a post from the politician’s Twitter account about former Green Party election candidate Saoirse McHugh skinny-dipping.
Diarmuid Hayes, a film-maker who worked for Mr Flanagan for 18 months, previously apologised for sending the post from the MEP’s social media account, saying it had been an “impulsive” joke.
The post stated “Sapirse mchugh photo skinny dipping” [sic] and led people to believe Mr Flanagan had intended to search online for photographs of the Co Mayo woman but had posted the intended search words on Twitter by accident.
The post was published on Mr Flanagan’s Twitter, now X, account, in the early hours of September 28th, 2020. Following a criminal investigation Hayes was charged with fraudulently intending to damage the reputation of Mr Flanagan over the post.
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Hayes was no longer working in the MEP’s office in the European Parliament at the time of the tweet, but still had access to his social media account through a third-party app.
During a hearing on Monday in the Palace of Justice, Brussels, Hayes was sentenced to 150 hours of community service. Judge Isabelle Jacquemin urged him to be conscious of the consequences of his actions and his use of social media, particularly when it is used to damage someone’s reputation.
The judge said if Hayes did not comply with community service order he would face a prison sentence of 15 months. He was also fined €5,000 and ordered to pay some court-related costs.
Originally from north Dublin, Hayes worked as a parliamentary assistant to Mr Flanagan from January 2018 to July 2019. The court previously heard he felt aggrieved when his contract was not renewed.
He told a court hearing in February that he posted the tweet as a joke and it was an “impulsive” decision taken late one night after smoking cannabis. He described his relationship with Mr Flanagan as “very complicated” and said an initial offer of a one-year contract extension was later revoked.
The court heard Hayes retained access to the social media account after his employment ended through a third party app, Tweetcaster, despite Mr Flanagan having changed his passwords.
Mr Flanagan told the hearing the episode had been “traumatising” for him and his family and led to abuse and ridicule. The Co Roscommon politician criticised Hayes for not putting his “hand up” and publicly admitting he had made the post in the days afterwards.
Belgian public prosecutor Thomas Descamps sought a one-year prison sentence for Hayes and said he would not oppose it being suspended. In his submission, Mr Descamps said Hayes was motivated by “revenge” and the post was intended to harm Mr Flanagan.
Charlotte Henderickx, a lawyer representing Hayes, had petitioned the judge to sentence her client to community service.
Speaking at the end of the case on Monday, Mr Flanagan said he was not surprised his former employee had received a sentence of community service.
“The main thing for me is I’m glad this is all over, I don’t have to deal with it anymore. My name has been cleared,” he said.
Mr Flanagan said he felt Hayes was a “very bitter individual” who had offered a “very lame apology” for what he had done.
Hayes said he did not wish to comment.
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