An Irish politician who was propelled onto the global stage in recent days has responded after an international supermodel extended her support for his party.
Bella Hadid, who has modelled for the world's top brands, shared a post from Richard Boyd Barrett last week to her 50 million Instagram followers.
The post concerned claims from the Socialist TD's party, People Before Profit, showing the disparity between government funding for horse racing and domestic violence refuges.
READ MORE: Supermodel Bella Hadid reveals support for one Irish political party in social media post
The US celeb shared the post dating back to January 18 to her Instagram stories and it subsequently emerged that Boyd Barrett's account was among the 700 people Hadid follows on the platform.
Speaking about the unusual occurrence, the Irish politician said on Tuesday he had not heard of Hadid before but was "glad" to have made contact with a fellow activist.
“I wasn’t aware of Bella Hadid, but it would appear she is an activist and an advocate on behalf of Palestine, women’s rights and progressive causes,” he said outside Leinster House, as Newstalk reports.
“So, I am very glad to have made contact with an activist and I am always keen to meet activists who are campaigning on similar issues to ourselves.
“I did send her back a message thanking her for the follow and the share and just saying I am always glad to be in touch with activists campaigning on similar issues to ourselves.”
He added: “I think the reason, probably, why I came across the radar of Bella Hadid is because of the video from the Dail where I was speaking about Palestine and the double standards in terms of western policy towards occupation and invasion which went viral around the world.
“She is half Palestinian so I’m assuming that is the reason I came across her radar.”
READ MORE: Bella Hadid 'loved alcohol' but says lack of 'control' made her quit drinking
READ MORE: Leo Varadkar makes strange RTE Late Late Show comment as he remembers first Covid lockdown
Get breaking news to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter.
