Fianna Fáil and the Department of Health deny paying for retweets on Maternity Hospital post

Both Fianna Fáil (FF) and the Department of Health deny paying for retweets on a post relating to the planned National Maternity Hospital.

Minister of Health and FF TD Stephen Donnelly’s tweet included a video about the Cabinet decision to support the relocation of the National Maternity Hospital received hundreds of retweets from accounts.

According to BreakingNews.ie, many of these accounts which appeared to be spam accounts or 'bots.'

It follows after Twitter said that it has been attempting to cut down on the number of bots on the platform, with the issue even impacting billionaire Elon Musk's takeover.

The Tesla owner said on Tuesday that his $44 billion (€42 billion) offer would not move forward until Twitter Inc shows proof that spam bots account for less than five per cent of its total users, hours after suggesting he could seek a lower price for the company.

A number of commenters expressed doubts over the legitimacy of the number of likes and retweets Minister Donnelly's post received:

In a statement on the matter, the Department of Health said: "Neither the Department nor the Minister have paid for any promotional activity in relation to his social media accounts.

"We have asked Twitter to investigate."