{"id":1512,"date":"2026-04-24T13:25:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T13:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/?p=1512"},"modified":"2026-10-15T16:22:03","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T16:22:03","slug":"weekly-fact-checking-round-up-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/weekly-fact-checking-round-up-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly factchecking round-up: 17-23 April 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Through the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), the EU supports a European network of factcheckers, including TheJournal in Ireland. For a monthly roundup of European factchecks, visit the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/edmo.eu\/\">main EDMO website<\/a>. Here, we highlight recent pieces by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thejournal.ie\/factcheck\/news\/\">TheJournal FactCheck<\/a>&nbsp;team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thejournal.ie\/debunked-factcheck-connolly-station-stabbing-misinformation-posobiec-american-7019035-Apr2026\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.thejournal.ie\/debunked-factcheck-connolly-station-stabbing-misinformation-posobiec-american-7019035-Apr2026\/\">Debunked: Fringe commentator from US spreads false rumour of stabbing at Connolly Station<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Published: 21 April<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A viral claim shared by a US-based commentator alleging a stabbing at Dublin\u2019s Connolly Station was found to be entirely false, with no evidence of such an incident occurring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thejournal.ie\/scarlett-faulkner-family-7018859-Apr2026\/\">After deaths of Scarlett Faulkner and her brother, fake fundraising pages have been set up in their name<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Published: 21 April<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Misleading fundraising appeals circulating online following a tragic incident were identified as fake, with warnings issued to the public about scam donation pages exploiting the situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thejournal.ie\/factcheck\/news\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.thejournal.ie\/factcheck\/news\/\">FactFind: Was Leo Varadkar right about urban areas \u2018paying the bills\u2019 in Ireland<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Published: 23 April \u2013 by Shane Raymond<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Comments by Leo Varadkar about urban areas funding rural Ireland were examined, with the fact-check finding the claim contains elements of truth but lacks important context around taxation, public spending, and subsidies. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Through the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), the EU supports a European network of factcheckers, including TheJournal in Ireland. For a monthly roundup of European factchecks, visit the&nbsp;main EDMO website. Here, we highlight recent pieces by&nbsp;TheJournal FactCheck&nbsp;team. Debunked: Fringe commentator from US spreads false rumour of stabbing at Connolly Station Published: 21 April A viral &#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/weekly-fact-checking-round-up-2\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Weekly factchecking round-up: 17-23 April 2026&#8221;<\/span> &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":1502,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[27,28,44,54],"class_list":["post-1512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-factchecks","tag-disinformation","tag-fact-checking","tag-misinformation","tag-thejournal"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/pexels-hartonocreativestudio-20457108-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1512"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2006,"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512\/revisions\/2006"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}