{"id":1712,"date":"2026-08-14T16:59:01","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T16:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/?p=1712"},"modified":"2026-08-14T17:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T17:02:13","slug":"weekly-fact-checking-round-up-covid-tourism-tradwives-and-the-irish-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/weekly-fact-checking-round-up-covid-tourism-tradwives-and-the-irish-language\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly fact-checking round-up: Covid, tourism, \u2018tradwives\u2019 and Gaeilge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Through the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), the EU supports a European network of fact-checkers, including TheJournal in Ireland. For a monthly roundup of European fact-checks, visit the main EDMO website<\/a>. Here, we highlight recent fact-checks by TheJournal FactCheck<\/a> team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debunked: Anthony Fauci did not say that Covid was nothing more than the common flu<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published: 7 August \u2013 by Shane Raymond<\/p>\n\n\n\n

False allegations on social media said Anthony Fauci admitted Covid was \u201cnothing more than the common flu\u201d during a Senate hearing. In reality, Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment rights, and the hearing contained no such statement; references to \u201cflu\u201d concerned influenza and vaccines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FactCheck: OECD to remove bogus statistic that tourism in Ireland fell by 32%<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published: 10 August \u2013 by Shane Raymond<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 32% drop in tourism between 2019 and 2025 is based on a misleading comparison of two different CSO surveys. The OECD has agreed to correct the figure, which does not show a real decline in visitor numbers. Other indicators, including Dublin Airport passenger figures, instead suggest tourism activity increased over the period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debunked: The government\u2019s strategy for women is not a campaign to discourage homemakers<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published: 14 August \u2013 by Shane Raymond<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Claims that the government\u2019s women and girls strategy is a campaign against stay-at-home mothers are unfounded. While the strategy briefly mentions \u201ctradwife\u201d influencers in the context of harmful gender stereotypes, neither the strategy nor its action plan seeks to discourage homemaking. The government says the policy is intended to support women\u2019s freedom to choose between caring at home, working, or combining both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debunked: Government adviser Ebun Joseph is being widely misquoted in comments about Irish language<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published: 14 August \u2013 by Shane Raymond<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Posts accused government adviser Ebun Joseph of calling for the Irish language to be abandoned. Her full comments show she was discussing whether all teachers should be required to speak Irish, particularly amid teacher shortages, rather than arguing against the language itself. Joseph later clarified that her proposal was to use non-Irish-speaking teachers while improving Irish education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Through the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), the EU supports a European network of fact-checkers, including TheJournal in Ireland. For a monthly roundup of European fact-checks, visit the main EDMO website. Here, we highlight recent fact-checks by TheJournal FactCheck team. Debunked: Anthony Fauci did not say that Covid was nothing more than the common flu Published: 7 August … Read More “Weekly fact-checking round-up: Covid, tourism, \u2018tradwives\u2019 and Gaeilge”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":1502,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"twitterCardType":"","cardImageID":0,"cardImage":"","cardTitle":"","cardDesc":"","cardImageAlt":"","cardPlayer":"","cardPlayerWidth":0,"cardPlayerHeight":0,"cardPlayerStream":"","cardPlayerCodec":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,11],"tags":[27,28,44,54],"class_list":["post-1712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-factchecks","category-news","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","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1712","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1712"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1714,"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1712\/revisions\/1714"}],"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=1712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}