Patrick Nulty has resigned from his position as an independent TD for Dublin West (Picture: Julien Behal/PA Wire)

A member of the Irish parliament has resigned after he admitted to sending ‘inappropriate messages’ to a teenage girl via Facebook.

Patrick Nulty admitted he had been ‘under the influence of alcohol’ when he sent the messages to the 17-year-old.

Irish tabloid Sunday World claimed the independent TD for Dublin West asked the girl if she had ‘ever been spanked’ as well as asking another woman to send him underwear in the post.

His shock resignation came early this morning just hours before the newspaper was due to print the story.


In a statement, the former Labour Party (Ireland) politician said he took ‘full responsibility’ for his actions and would like to apologise ‘wholeheartedly’ to the girl and her family.



‘I sent inappropriate messages via Facebook. This included inadvertently sending one to a 17-year-old woman,’ it read.

‘To the best of my knowledge I have never met this woman and the message was sent while under the influence of alcohol,’ he added.

Sunday World claimed it had used ‘geo-tagging’ evidence to determine that the messages had been sent from inside Leinster House – the houses of parliament for the Republic of Ireland.

Mr Nulty claimed that he sets himself the ‘highest standards personally and politically’ and for this reason had no choice but to resign.