Allegation that politician inappropriately messaged teenager reported to Tusla

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An allegation that a politician used a fake social media profile to inappropriately message an underage party member have been referred to Tusla by a political party.

The Irish Examiner has confirmed that the politician is accused of using an anonymous social media account to message a teenage member of the same party.

It is understood that earlier this summer, the male teenager made a disclosure to a senior party official.

It is understood that the teenager was advised by the party figure that there may be a potentially criminal element to the allegation and it should be reported to garda.

The politician allegedly started messaging the boy using an anonymous Twitter account when the teenager was 16 years old.

It is believed that the political party reported the disclosure to Tusla several days after the teenager made the allegations.

Party members and officials were told that the agency would share the information with garda.

In a statement issued on Sunday night, the political party said it was notified of an allegation in May and took immediate steps to report the disclosure to the relevant statutory authorities.

The party has said that it takes allegations of this nature extremely seriously, and strictly adheres to all of its safeguarding and reporting obligations. The party said it referred the allegations to An Garda Sochna.

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