FALSE CLAIMS THAT Micheal Martin was at his daughter’s wedding as protests were broken up were spread online over the weekend.

Martin did attend a wedding reception for his niece a few hours on Friday night, though missed the rest of the wedding.

“BREAKING: Rumours circulate Micheal Martin’s daughter is getting married this weekend – during the fuel protests,” The Liberal posted to its social media accounts on Saturday, 11 April.

“Imagine the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) at a wedding while the entire country is shutdown from the fuel protests. “

The post was viewed more than one million times on the social media platform X.

Later that day, The Liberal published more posts: “Micheal Martin rumoured to be enjoying champagne at his daughter’s wedding this weekend as fuel protesters get pepper-sprayed in the same county,” receiving more than 184,000 views on X.

Identical posts also received more than 1,000 reactions on Facebook.

The Liberal also published a story on its website, though citing no named or informed sources, only rumours.

The claim was also picked up by far-right activist Derek Blighe, who wrote later that same day: “While Taoiseach Micheal Martin celebrates his daughters wedding today, fuel protesters are about to be met with the brute force of the Garda public order unit.”

That post was viewed more than 47,000 times on X.

Both The Liberal and Derek Blighe have regularly shared misinformation online, and both have been repeatedly factchecked by The Journal.

However, while many users responded to them expressing outrage at the Taoiseach, others felt that the attack was unfair, even if true.

“I’m no fan of Micheal Martin but the man is entitled to celebrate his daughter’s wedding,” said one popular post on X, expressing a common sentiment.

However, there was no evidence that Martin’s daughter was getting married, no sources were ever cited, and there were reasons to think this was unlikely.

For one thing, Micheál Martin had initially planned to travel to Canada this Sunday for a three-day trade mission, though this was cancelled on Friday due to the fuel protests.

“The Taoiseach was in Government Buildings throughout the weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) for meetings on the development of a package of supports in response to rising fuel costs,” a spokesperson for the Taoiseach told The Journal, referring to the measures announced on Sunday.

“Later on Friday night, the Taoiseach joined the wedding of his niece.”

The fuel protests have been the subject of multiple false claims, including a fake document that supposedly gave instructions for gardaí to handle the protesters, claims the army would fight the protesters, and claims that old videos or AI images showed the protests.

Experts told The Journal that dubious rumours are very common during uncertain events when people are anxious, like during disruptive protests or when fuel prices are rising rapidly.

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