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OVER THE LAST week, a message has been shared across Facebook and WhatsApp claiming to be an official statement from clothing and homeware retailer Penneys.
The statement, which has the Penneys lettering at the top, says that stores across Ireland are set to reopen on 8 June with strict social distancing measures being enforced.
It reads: “There’s good news for Penneys fans as the chain store is due to reopen on June 8th after the coronavirus pandemic finally begins to ease.
“All those who love shopping full stop (sic) will be able to once again enjoy going to the shops, as long as they maintain social distancing and possibly wear a mask.”
A number of alarm bells rang when this post was first shared with TheJournal.ie. Firstly, the Penneys logo is formatted oddly, and the text of the ‘statement’ does not attribute the information to anyone.
Additionally, there has been no press release sent to the media to say that one of the nation’s largest fashion retailers is to reopen.
The message was spread on a number of websites in Ireland, including The Liberal, which appears to have not contacted Penneys for a comment and posted an article based solely on the fake statement.
One of the posts we found on social media has been shared hundreds of times. It is one of many Facebook pages which has been caught out by the fake.
In a statement to TheJournal.ie, Penneys said that the message is a fake and that the chain will only reopen its doors once it is safe to do so.
A spokeswoman said: “We have not made any announcement about re-opening in Ireland and social media posts which are circulating with an opening date are false.
Nothing matters more to us than the health and wellbeing of our employees and customers. That is why we will only re-open our stores once we are convinced that it is safe and right to do so. We are closely following all safety advice from government, and will treat this as the minimum standard across all our stores.
Even if Penneys wanted to reopen on 8 June, it would not be permitted as per the Government’s plan for reopening the country.
It says that the only shops that can reopen on 8 June under the current plan are “small retail outlets with a small number of staff”. Under the plan, the earliest Penneys can reopen will be 29 June, and even then, the roadmap has strict guidelines about what will be allowed.
****
There is a lot of false news and scaremongering being spread in Ireland at the moment about coronavirus. Here are some practical ways for you to assess whether the messages that you’re seeing – especially on WhatsApp – are true or not.
STOP, THINK AND CHECK
Look at where it’s coming from. Is it someone you know? Do they have a source for the information (e.g. the HSE website) or are they just saying that the information comes from someone they know? A lot of the false news being spread right now is from people claiming that messages from ‘a friend’ of theirs. Have a look yourself – do a quick Google search and see if the information is being reported elsewhere.
Secondly, get the whole story, not just a headline. A lot of these messages have got vague information (“all the doctors at this hospital are panicking”) and don’t mention specific details. This is often – but not always a sign – that it may not be accurate.
Finally, see how you feel after reading it. A lot of these false messages are designed to make people feel panicked. They’re deliberately manipulating your feelings to make you more likely to share it. If you feel panicked after reading something, check it out and see if it really is true.
TheJournal.ie’s FactCheck is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles. You can read it here. For information on how FactCheck works, what the verdicts mean, and how you can take part, check out our Reader’s Guide here. You can read about the team of editors and reporters who work on the factchecks here
Have you gotten a message on WhatsApp or Facebook or Twitter about coronavirus that you’re not sure about and want us to check it out? Message or mail us and we’ll look into debunking it. WhatsApp: 085 221 4696 or Email: answers@thejournal.ie
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Gay prods marrying Gay Catholics, Paisley just turned in his grave .
Peter Robinson will have another heart attack
Eating too much cake?
Mrs. Robinson playing away again?!!?
Well done, Belfast!
Good for them. Having a situation where your marriage can be legal in one part of the country and not in another part is lunacy.
Orange is the new pink.
Should be noted that it was 2 members of the SDLP that abstained, a third of their Councillors…
SDLP is divided to the core on this issue.
start of many countries following Ireland
The disputed territory “Northern Ireland” isn’t a country
Eh, sorry john but Northern Ireland is a country, regardless of the perceived political status prescribed by you. It’s not an independent sovereign state but Mick didn’t say it was.
So return those green thumbs to their owners post haste; eh, you can probably keep the red ones.
My understanding of language is that it functions using objectively verifiable rules of semantics that are entirely independent from the number of green or red thumbs a post receives on the journal.
“England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are not themselves listed in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) list of countries. However the ISO list of the subdivisions of the UK, compiled by British Standards and the UK’s Office for National Statistics, uses “country” to describe England, Scotland and Wales.[3] Northern Ireland, in contrast, is described as a “PROVINCE” in the same lists”
http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_3166-2_newsletter_ii-3_2011-12-13.pdf
But it’s not really a province though is it? Ulster is a province. Otherwise we need to give them back Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan. I do accept that it’s typical for people to call it a province, a country and a region and that ambiguity is understandable given it’s unique status.
I know it’s complex mate, language is quiet difficult and can confuse mere mortals, but given it’s distinct geography, political status and the everyday use of this term to describe it, Northern Ireland is a country more than it is a “disputed territory”; I didn’t sign the good friday agreement but I know that much.
Carmo, your post was inaccurate. Just accept that you were wrong and move on. Northern Ireland is not a country.
@carmo. Northern Ireland is not a country. You cannot get an ni passport. It doesn’t offer consular services. Residents have a choice of passports – Irish or British
What is it then?
Give them back cavan, donegal and monaghan? Its more a case of us getting back the six counties.
They can have Cavan.
Monaghan too.
We’ll keep Donegal though.
Oh no, the Westboro Baptist Church are going to kick off again.
We were promised that if we voted yes this would stop. For the love of god will it ever end?!
Careful now, your stupidity is shining through.
The beatings will continue until gay rights improve.
For the love of God would people who are not interested in gay related articles please stop reading them or you will be forced to right a complaint about it in the comments.
Where is the Save Ulster from Sodomy campaign?
It attracted some fine Christians like Big Ian.
Oh, right.
It went the way of the Dinosaurs.
Ah here! It’s unfair to lump the dinosaurs in with the bigots.
But where’s big roaring Ian now? Slowly but surely turning to dust
Nonsense click bait headline, everyone knows popolous seeking Sinn Fein and left wing alliance control Belfast city council (hence the flag fiasco) , it will be defeated in Stormont.
Not everyone wants to implement neo-liberal idealology
You view equality as neo-liberalism?!? Yeah, you probably do, actually!
John, neoliberalism revolves around economics and regulation of business and the like. It has nothing got to do with dragging Ireland out of the 1950s with its views to gay people.
@Were. SSM is only available to 2% of the worlds population, are 98% of the world in your view stuck in the 1950s? How self righteous of you.
SSM was manufactured by left wing liberalists, the notion of it was unheard of a decade ago.
The ancient Romans had SSM.
Nonsense. Prove it! The romans also practiced slavery, put people to death by lions in front of large audiences and practiced pedastry since you’re looking to the ancients for how to enligten our society.
The Netherlands has had marriage equality since 2001.
But sure don’t let that inconvenient fact get in the way of your myth that it was “unheard of a decade ago”.
@John
Cool yer jets! You said the SSM wasn’t thought of more than ten years ago. I responded that there was SSM inAncient Rome, no need to undermine the whole of antiquity because a couple of blokes could get married 2,000 years ago. Oh, you have a computer, check it out for yourself!
True, neo-liberalism is a economic philosophy couched in Marxist language but the definition has broadened in recent times. A better description would be pseudo liberals or illiberal liberals.
Actually, this is a really interesting historical perspective on the history of same-sex marriage from the Guardian…
-
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/23/-sp-secret-history-same-sex-marriage
Well The Guardian is the prayer book of choice of the pseudo liberals.
Says the pseudo-intellectual.
If an ability to see through the flak of pseudo liberalism and remain sceptical of the latest fad I will plead guilty to that attempt at an insult.
Holy smoke theo and John, your arguments and phrasing across this comment section is wholly inconsistent, I’m not sure but I’m guessing it’s troll logic.
It tells that the demand for homosexual couplings to be recognized was constant, has been substantiated legally before hand and is not a “modern”, decadent “choice”.
@John, you are confusing liberalism in the social sense with liberalism in the economic sense. Completely different things mate.
Yeah John. But we won. Oh yes baby. And middle Ireland told freaks like you that you now are in the minority.
I’m still undecided. There still hasn’t been enough debate.
The gays are just as bad as girls seeking equality…….who cares what a couple people vote on in Belfast as it means feck all as its not law!
Women seeking equality now are they? Well that will never happen.
Now what time is the next diplodocus to Bedrock? I have to return my wholly mammoth vacuum cleaner for re-bristling.
Kinda like the time SF held a united Ireland referendum in, wait for it……………South Armagh, a resounding yes vote too by the way, who’d have thought.
Yeah we know – the majority of unionist politicians are bigots, and wish to block two consenting adults from getting married.
Yeah and the fact SF agree with same sex marriage just excuses the 30 years of murder and maiming they were involved in doesn’t it. Never seen a bigger shower of populist hypocrites in all my life.
You haven’t met the aaa yet so..
Well done to my Party Colleagues, progressive politics at its best!
Orange you glad they’re on the way
I’m not an Ulster Unionist but it’s only fair to say that Jeff Dudgeon also spoke in favour of gay marriage. All you equal rights champions will remember that it was Jeff’s case in Europe that led to decriminalisation of homosexuality in Northern Ireland.
The article doesn’t mention any Ulster unionist speaking in favour but Jeff Dudgeon is an Ulster Unionist councillor. And Jeff’s case was ten years before David Norris had to do the same in the south. So the decriminalisation of homosexuality across Ireland was achieved by a unionist and someone who until some time last month was dismissed as a West Brit revisionist by republicans.
And while everyone’s slagging the ghost of Ian Paisley clerics in the republic are attacking yes voters in their congregations.
More like belslow Amirite
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