The Telegraph reported that Elizabeth O’Connell, the defence counsel, reportedly told jurors: “Does the evidence out-rule the possibility that she was attracted to the defendant and was open to meeting someone and being with someone? You have to look at the way she was dressed. She was wearing a thong with a lace front.”
The protest reached Ireland's parliament, where Ruth Coppinger, a member of the Dail for Dublin West also produced a blue thong during a debate to protest the way the rape trial was conducted.
It was reported that almost 400 people also took on streets of Ireland and rallied against the verdict.