Months after he stopped working for Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan in Brussels, his former parliamentary assistant logged into the MEP’s X account and tweeted: “Sapirse mchugh photo skinny dipping”.
It was, he told a court in Brussels, an “impulsive joke” made late one night after smoking cannabis.
Joke or not, the post caused huge damage to Flanagan’s reputation.
But why did Hayes do it?
READ MORE
Jim O'Callaghan weighs in on Catherine Connolly's work as barrister amid fallout from FG video
Gaza ceasefire in effect, say Israel and Trump, following wave of Israeli air strikes
Many websites down amid Amazon cloud outage
After 53 years on Talbot Street, Dublin city’s last wallpaper shop prepares to close
Irish Times Europe correspondent Naomi O’Leary explains the background to this peculiar case, while Jack Power reports from the court where Belgian prosecutors sought a one-year prison sentence for Hayes.
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon.