A LEAFLET TELLING “girls” to stay indoors was not distributed by the Irish government, nor the Irish Centre for Diversity, despite what the text on the leaflet implies and what some social media posts sharing images of it say.
The leaflet reads: “Girls to stay indoors after 6pm (until further notice)
“New arrivals to this area are not accustomed to Irish cultural norms at this transitionary time
“Thank you for your compliance”
Text at the bottom of the leaflet says “Irish Centre for Diversity a partnership with Ralltas nd hEireann”, which appears to be a misspelling of Rialtas na hÉireann, the Irish term for the government of Ireland.
Images of the leaflet were shared on social media platforms, including Twitter — where one tweet had about 300,000 views — and Facebook, where one caption read: “Irish government put leaflets in native irish people’s homes, girls/women are not allowed to leave their own house after 6pm because they’ve shipped in immigrants of fighting age men that like to rape…” [sic]
However, the leaflets are a hoax.
The Irish Centre for Diversity, a Waterford-based group of “equality, diversity and inclusion consultants”, confirmed on its Facebook page that it had nothing to do with the leaflets, and had reported them to gardaí.
“We are aware that a leaflet is being distributed in local areas and across social media,” its post wrote. “We are not associated with the leaflet in any way and the unauthorised use of our name has been reported to An Garda Síochána (Ireland’s Police and Security Service).”
A spokesperson for the Irish Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth told The Journal that the poster was not created by the Irish government.
“The Department strongly condemns such incidents of deliberate misinformation, which are clearly intended to create division and hostility,” the spokesperson said.
The leaflet also contained a number of other indications that it was not genuine, such as the above misspelling and not using the logos of the Irish Centre for Diversity or the Irish Government, as was pointed out by Reuters journalist Seana Davis.
It is not clear how widely the leaflet was dispersed through letterboxes but it has been shared significantly online.
Verdict
False. A leaflet ordering “Girls to stay indoors after 6pm” is a hoax.
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