Dr Ciara Kelly has revealed she was harassed by a 'prominent man in the Irish media' over a period of months.

The Newstalk presenter took to Twitter to make the revelation in a thread on Saturday morning.

The move, she writes, was prompted by an approach by a woman who told her the man (who has not been identified) had raped her '40 years ago'.

"A woman I dont know approached me recently about a prominent man in the Irish media 'He raped me 40 yrs ago. I can still smell him on me' she said visibly distressed. I don't know this man well - Iv met him twice though both times in a group setting..." she wrote.

Dr Ciara, who has just taken over the lunchtime slot vacated by George Hook on Newstalk, used the hashtag #IrishWeinstein.

She added that the unidentified man "messaged me immediately after the first meeting by twitter DM" and said, "he was v complimentary "you are v talented we must meet for coffee" he said. I declined something about him made me uneasy. I was polite though I was friendly. Many many messages came I declined other invitations"

When she did not engage with further messages she says he wrote, "who do you think you are? You're becoming a national joke", late at night, before apologising the following morning.

Dr Ciara shared details of the harassment with friends who she says told her that the man was "violent" and "beat his wife" and that he would offer girls lifts home but "the passenger door handle was broken - they couldn't get out".

The woman who made the rape allegation told Dr Ciara that there were "lots of us".

Dr Ciara ended her thread by calling on other women who might recognise who the man may be, and have been affected similarly by him, to contact her and "try to right this".

Some of Dr Ciara's followers advised her to go to the Gardai and make a formal complaint.

Online Editors