Aodhán Ó Ríordáin responds on Twitter as Paddy Jackson’s legal team plan to sue over tweet

Labour senator Aodhán Ó Ríordáin has issued a response on Twitter after the lawyers for Paddy Jackson indicated they were going to take libel action against him.

Earlier this week, Mr Ó Ríordáin tweeted his support for the woman at the centre of the recent rape trial, which was held at Belfast Crown Court. Paddy Jackson was found not guilty of all charges against him. Mr Ó Ríordáin's tweet garnered significant traction on Wednesday. In it he praised the courage of the woman in question and also made a reference to "smug well-connected middle-class boys". In a statement on Friday, Paddy Jackson's lawyers said they had no option but to issue a Notice of Intention to sue Mr Ó Ríordáin "for defamatory comments". RTÉ News quotes Senior Associate Marie Hans of KRW LAW solicitors as saying:

"I can confirm we have issued pre-action libel correspondence against a named Senator in the Republic of Ireland. "The legal action relates to a tweet sent to a number of other persons before it was eventually taken down."

Mr Ó Ríordáin issued a statement on Sunday, saying that he "won't be making any further comment" as his solicitors were looking after the situation now. https://twitter.com/AodhanORiordain/status/980431714257375232 After some 3 hours and 40 minutes of deliberation, on Wednesday the jury of eight men and three women delivered their unanimous verdicts. At the time, Paddy Jackson's lawyer said at the courthouse that they were "grateful to the jury for reaching a common sense verdict".