Fianna Fáil TD Declan Breathnach has denied he defamed Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald in a tweet he published in 2018.

Ms McDonald has launched High Court defamation proceedings against the Co Louth TD over a post he published on Twitter on October 11th, 2018 in reply to a tweet she had posted in support of the now retired Garda Maurice McCabe.

Ms McDonald claims Mr Breathnach’s tweet meant her sympathy for Mr McCabe was disingenuous, insincere and that she is a hypocrite.

Represented by Tom Hogan SC, Ms McDonald also claims the tweet meant she had failed to speak out about and condoned the murders of members of An Garda Síochána by dissident republicans and criminals.

She alleges that the tweet defamed her.

She is seeking damages including aggravated damages, and an injunction restraining the Fianna Fáil TD from further publishing the same or a similar statement about her.

Mr Breathnach, represented by Darren Lehane BL, denies the claim, and says the Sinn Féin leader’s action is “misconceived”. A pretrial motion in the case was briefly mentioned before Ms Justice Mary Rose Gearty at the High Court on Monday and adjourned to later this month.