Midlands North-West MEP Ciaran Mullooly has confirmed that he used artificial intelligence to write a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urging the EU to deliver more aid to Gaza.
It was reported his letter contained a story of a young girl who lives in Rafah, which turned out to be fictional - while at another section lyrics from the band 'Swedish House Mafia' were used without reference.
Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetime, Mr Mullooly said his motivation was "looking for measures that did not include the [EU] member states actually agreeing - because that's the problem.
"That's the frustration in Brussels... the attitude of Germany and other states where for a long, long, time we couldn't get even a review of the [EU-Israel] Trade Agreement."
He said that around three weeks ago, 25 pages of research were put in front of him in the European Parliament and that he asked his colleague to produce a summary of it for a letter to Mrs von der Leyen.
He said AI was used to complete the "first part of the letter...I read every line of it, I looked at the references, and I was quite happy with that," he said.
Mr Mullooly said the second half of the letter has received most attention and refers to a song by the 'Swedish House Mafia' group.
He said it was composed by a member of his team who had read 1,000 emails from people sent to his office on the subject of Gaza.
His staff member summarised those "in what has been described today as fiction, but it's actually written based on some of the information given to us by those emails," he said.
One of the 1,000 "real life" emails contained a lyric from a 'Swedish House Mafia' song, which states: "Don't you worry, don't you worry child, see heaven’s got a plan for you".
Mr Mullooly said: "I had no idea what that was about.
"I asked a colleague in the office to use AI or any other references to explain to me - and I have to be honest, I am not a fan of 'Swedish House Mafia' - and it had to be explained to me where it came from.
"It [the quote] was included in an email which came to me from Gaza and to me, it summed up, when I read it, the vulnerability of the children involved, the way their lives have been turned upside down, from the comfort of their parents, to a situation where we've lost 15,000 children.
"Innocent children, and I was trying to bring that point home to Ursula von der Leyen.
"That was the whole point of my letter," he said.
