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?
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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.
