Aodhán Ó Riordáin apologises for tweet about the Belfast rape trial

Labour senator Aodhán Ó Riordáin has apologised for a tweet that he sent out about the Belfast rape trial.

The clarification and apology was released for the message he sent out on March 28, after the verdict was announced that afternoon. The tweet was later removed from his account. In the statement on social media, he said that the tweet was not "designed or intended to suggest that either Paddy Jackson or any of the other accused men were guilty or that the jury got it wrong”. His full statement - which is pinned to the top of his Twitter account - reads:

“My tweet of 28 March concerning the Belfast rape trial was not designed or intended to suggest that either Paddy Jackson or any of the other accused men were guilty or that the jury got it wrong. “I apologise for any suggestion to the contrary. I accept that I was not privy to all the evidence put before the jury during the trial. "I will not be making further comment."

https://twitter.com/AodhanORiordain/status/983282392113836032 Last month, Paddy Jackson's lawyers said they had no option but to issue a Notice of Intention to sue Mr Ó Ríordáin "for defamatory comments". RTÉ News quotes Senior Associate Marie Hans of KRW LAW solicitors as saying:

"I can confirm we have issued pre-action libel correspondence against a named Senator in the Republic of Ireland. "The legal action relates to a tweet sent to a number of other persons before it was eventually taken down."

Mr Ó Ríordáin issued a statement two days later, saying that he "won't be making any further comment" as his solicitors were looking after the situation now.