FIANNA FÁIL TD Declan Breathnach has denied he defamed Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald in a tweet he published in 2018.

McDonald has launched High Court defamation proceedings against the Co Louth TD over a post he published on twitter on 11 October 2018 in reply to a tweet she had posted in support of the now-retired Garda Maurice McCabe.

McDonald claims Breathnach’s tweet meant that her sympathy for McCabe was disingenuous, insincere and that she is a hypocrite.

Represented by Tom Hogan SC, McDonald also claims that the tweet meant she had failed to speak out about and condoned the murders of members of An Garda Siochana by dissident republicans and criminals.

She alleges that the tweet defamed her, and as well as seeking damages including aggravated damages, she also seeks an injunction restraining the FF TD from further publishing the same of a similar statement about her.

Breathnach, represented by Darren Lehane Bl denies the claim and says that the Sinn Fein TD and leader’s action is “misconceived”.

A pretrial motion in the case was briefly mentioned before Ms Justice Mary Rose Gearty at the High Court today.

The matter was adjourned to a date later this month.

Comments are closed for legal reasons