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Spiders

Is the false widow spider in Ireland? Maybe...

*This article contains spiders.

IT IS BRITAIN’S most venomous spider and has closed a school and hospitalised an amateur footballer.

With the panic across the water, you’d imagine this was happening:

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It isn’t, by the way.

However, it is only natural that after hearing so much about the spiders that Irish people would become a little bit more wary around their own homes.

First, Patrick O’Leary spotted this guy in Ovens, Co Cork.

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Then, Laura Shannon spotted this on the roof of her apartment in Kilkenny. THEY’RE INSIDE NOW.

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Deborah Richards was out her brother’s back garden when this false widow came along and ate her whole family. Not really, but look at the size of it.

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Carmel Hennessy thought she was getting a lovely autumnal photo of lady birds. WRONG. What she was getting was a spider waiting to ambush her. She sent us the photo, so we assume she got out of there ok.

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Lastly, Alan McCarthy was going about his business in Lucan when he was confronted with this:

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It may not be a false widow, but Alan please:

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The British Arachnological Society says that many sightings of the spider are incorrect, but, really, would you want to take a chance?

Read: Have you seen a false widow spider where you live?

Debunked: Do you really eat a dozen spiders in your sleep every year?

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