Cork County Council's Acting Chief Executive Twitter/X account 'compromised'

Cork County Council confirmed to T+D that Valerie O'Sullivan's X account was 'compromised'. Many of the 'likes' on the account were for posts about trans issues and the climate crisis.

Valerie O’Sullivan the interim boss of Cork County Council had her X account compromised. Via Cork County Council.

The acting boss of Cork County has had her X social media account compromised according to Cork County Council.

It only came to the Council’s attention after Tripe + Drisheen contacted the Council to inquire if some of the posts liked on the account aligned with policies of Cork County Council.

Many of the likes related to posts about trans issues with some poking fun at the climate crisis.

The account was wiped clean as of this afternoon, November 2.

In a statement to Tripe + Drisheen, a spokesman for Cork County Council thanked T+D for bringing the matter “to the attention of the Chief Executive”, adding, “It is clear that this account has been compromised and corrective action is immediately being taken to remove content that the CE did not engage with.”

Ms O’Sullivan is the first female boss of Cork County Council, and officially took over on October 2 following the departure of former CE Tim Lucey. Previously, Ms O’Sullivan worked in a number of roles at Cork City Council before transferring to Cork County Council in 2020.

In her first month at the helm of the local authority Midleton was severely flooded during Storm Babet. Ms O’Sullivan gave a full throttle defence of the Council, saying that the local authority was "as prepared as any agency could possibly have been for this unprecedented rainfall event, particularly in the town of Midleton and its environs".

Valerie O’Sullivan’s account did exist up until today. Via X

Compromised, but when?

No timeline was provided as to when Ms O’Sullivan’s X account was compromised. From a screengrab taken by Tripe + Drisheen before the account was wiped, the account was opened in April 2011 and had 200 followers. From time to time there would be newsworthy posts pertaining to politics in Cork, but a lot of the action was liking other tweets. Some of the likes date back months.

Many of the likes on the “compromised” account followed a pattern and related to gender issues. Below are a selection of liked posts which were screen grabbed before the account was wiped earlier today.

Many of the liked tweets on the “compromised” X account were for posts from Dr. Anastasia Maria Loupis, a Danish doctor and fashion model who has been fact checked for some of her viral posts. Dr Loupis has a verified X account; following Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter anyone who stumps up $8 a month can be verified.

However, the occasional tweet from the compromised account strayed into local politics.

It is not clear whether Ms O’Sullivan will be returning to X.

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