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DESPITE ALL THE texts, WhatsApp voice notes, Facebook messages and everything in between, the Defence Forces did not take to the streets to carry out a so-called “Status Red lockdown” over the past two days.
The suggestion had been widely shared across the country: since TheJournal.ie started a project debunking rumours about the coronavirus, the two most shared messages that we have tracked have been to do with Ireland about to go into a lockdown.
At one stage on Monday, the two WhatsApp messages about an impending lockdown made up more than 80% of the messages being shared by our readers about the coronavirus, suggesting that they were being seen by tens of thousands of people.
It began late last week as the country became gripped by panic and fear of the growing spread of Covid-19.
That’s when the rumours started – the unsubstantiated messages that began to flood everyone’s devices at a rate not too dissimilar to the spread of the virus worldwide.
One of the two more widely shared messages stated the following:
Hey guys just to let you know I’m speaking to my friend who is a guard and just out of conference. Full lockdown being announced at 11am to come into effect on Tuesday (yesterday). Shops will only be opened for a certain amount of time each day with the army outside only allowing certain amount of people in each time. Max 100 people allowed to queue. He said make sure you buy bottled water and any baby stuff required. It could be for two weeks or 30 days and is up for review after that. Hospitals have been told to be prepared for Tuesday and army and fire services be prepared for Wednesday. Fire brigade will possibly be used for ambulance duties also.
The other was a video showing only a dark room with a bright light in it. A man speaking slowly told listeners to “take what I’m going to tell you as gospel”.
In the video, the man said that his best friend works for a car hire company and had been in a meeting with An Garda Síochána, the HSE and the Defence Forces at which a large number of cars had been hired and purchased.
There is some truth to this, which may have given some credence to the message: gardaí have hired up to 210 new vehicles to provide community support during the coronavirus outbreak.
He then, however, says that the message “isn’t designed to make you panic but to give you an insight”. He says that the country is going to be going into a 14-day complete lockdown, with public transport cancelled, army patrolling the cities to stop looting and with all shops closed.
This is obviously completely untrue.
Other countries have announced different levels of lockdowns.
In France, all cafes, restaurants and cinemas have been shut. Italy, the most affected country in Europe, has banned travel between regions unless it has been signed off by a medical professional.
Monday came and went, as did Tuesday and there was no sign of an announcement of a lockdown.
Instead, the Defence Forces have been working with other arms of the State to provide assistance.
So far, members have been helping colleagues from the National Ambulance Service by manning the emergency number phonelines.
Elsewhere, the LÉ Samuel Beckett arrived in Dublin on Monday as part of the Defence Forces’ efforts to generate more capacity to help medical staff. The DF said it “stands ready” to help when requested.
In a video posted today, Defence Forces Chief of Staff, Vice Admiral Mark Mellett, said: “We are moving to an enhanced force posture and are commencing operations alongside the civil authorities to counter the Covid-19 threat to our people and our communities.
“In the weeks and month ahead, out mission is to defend and protect the citizens of Ireland as we face this threat, we will be strong, resilient and steadfast, we will overcome this adversity.
“We will do everything in our power to defend and protect our citizens.”
Óglaigh na hÉireann / Twitter
Óglaigh na hÉireann / Twitter / Twitter
Óglaigh na hÉireann / Twitter
Óglaigh na hÉireann / Twitter / Twitter
What this all means in simple terms is that the Defence Forces are making sure they are as prepared as possible to assist the national effort against coronavirus if and when they receive a request for assistance.
The Defence Forces are currently at “status yellow”. This means that the members are on call to be deployed to help other civil authorities such as the gardaí and the health workers.
There are NO plans for a so-called full lockdown at this moment in time, according to a Defence Forces spokesperson.
There may well be further announcement from the Irish State about closures but, if and when they happen, you will hear it from trusted news outlets.
****
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
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Leftist entitlement.
@Gerard Casserly: no, entitled idiots.
I consider myself left-leaning, and I for one would never consider doing anything like this. For one thing.. by digging up and destroying the lawn, they are actually destroying am ecosystem that supports worms, ants, beetles, and countless other creatures.
These idiots do NOT speak for all people who are left leaning, and are, imo, idiots who don actually know much about the environment, ecology. If they did, they would refrain from the stunts they pull, as from what I’ve seen, they cause a lot o harm.
@Mirabelle Stonegate: Digging it up is destroying the eco-system for worms and the like? Ehm. No. Not that I agree, but no, just no.
@Gerard Casserly: I would appreciate a group hand digging up the veg garden right now, they can post pictures of a organic garden, crop rotation and bio culture. If scroat vandals damage earthy ground it’s wrong
@Gerard Casserly: And what did it achieve? Nothing but publicity to feed their hungry egos.
@Mirabelle Stonegate: is that you Mrs Robinson
@Ian Phillip Creaner: you realise any bot of grass is home to a myriad of lifeforms, right? Worms, ants, beetles, weeds, and many others. They do things like aerate the soil, promote grass growth, provide food for other animals such as birds and so on. That’s what makes it an ecosystem. Dig that up in a destructive manner, and yes, it does destroy the current ecosystem. Creatures are killed. Food sources are disrupted. Sure, the ecosystem will recover, but that still takes time.
People who are serious about gardening, something I grew up with thanks to my parents, take steps to mitigate the damage they do, out of understanding. They dont destroy the entire ecosystem. They plant things that encourage diversity within. They help the population by recovering, through, for example, purchasing a few worms, and encouraging them to live. Gardening is all about balance and promoting biodiversity. Even if a person doesn’t put thought into it, the damage they do is never malicious, as they are shaping it into something different, which also promotes life. This is just mindless destruction, on the other hand.
@Mirabelle Stonegate: “any bot of grass” then I stopped reading. Go watch Attenborough. It might help you. You poor craytur.
@Mirabelle Stonegate: Low cut manicured lawns are barren desert landscapes for insects. The manicured lawns of today are about as good an ‘ecosystem’ as the spruce monocultures. Completely useless. Digging does not affect worms and it actually helps the soil. Cutting a tight lawn is not gardening, it’s decimating. I’m sure that’s what Ian was trying to say.
@TheHeathen: Thank you. It was.
@TheHeathen: you’ve clearly never been down on grass. Even tightly maintained lawns are home to insects. I’ve been bitten by,or crawled on, by plenty in the past 30+ years. They also provide food for creatures like rabbits, hedgehogs etc. I know this from stepping in their droppings more times than I can count.
I never said digging as a whole was bad,btw. Just that the disordered way they’re doing it is destructive and irresponsible.
Still, that’s them all over. They claim to be doing this in an effort to save the environment, yet everything I see of them is just disgustingly destructive and damaging.
@Paul Somers: Hi Paul it may be worth you watching Charles Dowding, no dig gardening on You Tube.
It will save you a lot of effort.Hope this will help.
@Mirabelle Stonegate: So everyone digging their gardens and planting flowers/trees/vegetables is destroying ecosystems?
These are a group of really sad people, they’re looking for meaning in their lives and seem to believe that ‘disruption’ is a worthwhile goal. Pity they don’t understand the difference between trying making a change for the better and doing more harm than good.
@EvieXVI: warning to any rational thinking people… theres little more than rightwing virtue signaling from here on…
@EvieXVI: Another misguided, often well-meaning but often obnoxious generation trying to find meaning in the realm of activism in the absence of having any personal competence. Religion replaced by worship at the alters of diversity and environmentalism is more amusing to me than informative. Walk into the future hesitantly rather than blind certainty is my conservative credo. It has served me well. But to each his own.
@Dermot Killian: We’ll said.
Vandals hope they get jail
Shower of bolloxes
@Patrick Agnew: at least. That’s the correct technical term for them.
They really don’t do themselves any favors
@Jane: modern version of the 80s CND movement comprised of greasy haired ,nose ringed ,Rollie smoking ,rag clothed individuals who are misguided and naive .
Get a job you bums.
And yet they don’t want to cut turf… im guessing they prob just invented the single use shovel .. ha ha ha..
@CAMILA REMONA:
Someone or a team work hard to maintain that. Hope they get arrested.
Any form of tilling or digging releases CO2.
Now they have become just a bunch of irrelevant Environmental vandals
Extinction Rebellion need to reevaluate the real threat that is in space or in a lab .
Police did nothing to stop them…British police are not what they used to be…
@iComment: British police are s c umbags …
@iComment: didn’t the UK recently declare the extinction rebellion a terrorist organization? A week in Guantanamo would put manners on them.
@iComment: I really doubt the UK police had a 24 hour guard over the lawn of college in Cambridge. Unless maybe they should have expected such an action from this group based on internet chatter or drone surveillance?
Should change their name to ” rebellion extinction ” if they keep doing this daft stuff.
Deluded hippy titbaskets, go and get a skilled trade for yourselves.
Good chance to plant a camomile lawn.
B@stards. That’s somebody’s work.
It’s thought provoking.
@Adrian Cronin: Wondering what their looking for.!!
@Adrian Cronin: Yes, it’s provoking thoughts into a negative. There are more meaningful forms of protest than than these primitive but primary actions and oh so old and dreary.
Extinction Rebellion seem to think that there is a magic switch that can be flipped so energy from fossil fuel can be immediately replaced with renewable energy sources.
Firstly to replace every Watt of Electricity one for one currently produced by fossil fuels with it’s renewable alternative will take decades of manufacturing and building. Hydro Electric power stations don’t build themselves, nor does the materials required in the construction appear by magic. Wind Turbines and Solar Panels don’t just grow out of the ground like some tree or flower. They need to be manufactured and built.
And what energy source will these environmental activists use to manufacture and build these structures if not the fossil fuels they have abandoned?
So what this University is doing along with others is researching ways to make fossil fuels more efficient so we use less and cleaner so we pollute less, during the interviening years that they can be replaced.
But it seems these idiots would like us to return to a pre-industrial world. But doing so would mean less food production, less medicine production, shorter life spans, a rise in infant mortality etc.
They may have a just cause but damage to property like this doesn’t help them.
The small amount of coverage they get from this stunt will make most people roll their eyes or shrug their shoulders. It certainly won’t make any difference to the status quo.
WOW! I know this is the journal comment section so ill keep it simple. Big picture people! You are concerned about a patch of grass but have no problem with covering a farm with tarmac?! Someone even complained about disrupting worms. Have you read the article, mate? A whole farm is at stake! The environmental change that needs to happen, won’t, if its left up to institutions, like Trinity college. Then what, people? Yer arguments about lawns or disrespecting somebody’s work are just pathetic. More of this, or less of everything. Theres your options.
@Chaos Ape: Agree but what’s wrong with non destructive protest? Lots of ways to have impactful protest without destroying their environment
@Siofra Cronin: They, are unable to think of alternatives. Their actions show lost childhood syndrome, raised in a Crèche.!!
@Siofra Cronin: if they didnt dig up the lawn, we wouldn’t be talking about it.
Brilliant
It’s just a lawn without any benefit for flying insects. Just ugly green no flowers, cutter as short as mind
Brilliant
Idiots
Mostly public school spoilt brats , they should be ” tarred and feathered ” in public , these idiot’s..
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