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Saoirse McHugh, the surprise star of the European Elections, hit out at the “embarrassing” trolls targeting a 16-year-old climate change activist.

The Green Party MEP candidate, who delivered a stinging putdown of rival Peter Casey on Prime Time, hailed Greta Thunberg as a great role model for Irish kids.

The teen is on a two-week voyage across the Atlantic on a carbon-neutral racing yacht so she can attend UN climate events without flying.

Ms McHugh told the Irish Mirror: “I think fair play to her. Imagine if she had flown, the amount of abuse she would have gotten over it.

(Image: VATICAN MEDIA HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX)

“And a lot of people are saying, ‘Oh blaa blaa blaa’ it’s such an expensive yacht [the €4million Malizia II construction cost] and they’re totally intentionally kind of ignoring the fact that she’s making a point.

“It [the yacht] was offered to her. I think it has to be taken for what it is in that it’s her living up to what she says she will, in that she has said that she will not fly anymore.

“But I don’t think she’s under any illusion that travelling by boat is a feasible thing to do [for most people]. And I think a lot of the abuse she has gotten over it is ridiculous. It’s quite embarrassing.”