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Irish politician steps down after sending explicit message to 17 year old

Sarah Hofmann Contributor
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Irish member of Parliament Patrick Nulty stepped down Sunday night after it was discovered he had sent an explicit message to a 17-year-old girl. According to the Independent, Nulty, 31, wrote, “Have you ever been spanked?”

Nulty at first denied the message, claiming he had been hacked, but copped to the lewd inquiry when it was discovered to have been written inside the Irish House of Parliament, Leinster House. When confronted with the geotag, Nulty apologized and blamed booze.

He said, “I sent inappropriate messages via Facebook, this included inadvertently sending one to a 17-year-old woman. To the best of my knowledge I have never met this woman and the message was sent while under the influence of alcohol.”

Nulty has also been accused of asking another woman to  send her underwear to him, as well as asking a constituent to wear a skirt to a constituent event.

When he stepped down, he said, “I set myself the highest standards personally and politically, unfortunately due to personal mistakes I have not met those standards in this matter and I will take responsibility for that. In politics people very often do not take responsibility for their actions, I hope I am doing that. I would further like to apologise to my constituents in Dublin West for my mistake.”

Nulty was a member of the Labour Party and took office in 2011.

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