A VIDEO CIRCULATING online showing members of the Defence Forces on Dublin’s O’Connell Street does not show the deployment of troops in response to an alleged stabbing.

The brief clip was shared multiple times on Facebook and Instagram on Sunday 6 September, hours after reports of a non-fatal stabbing on the same street.

At least two separate accounts that shared the video to Facebook included the same caption which implied that it showed troops on patrol to keep citizens safe.

“Following a savage stabbing on O’Connell Street yesterday, the Irish Army were patrolling the very same streets today Sunday 6 September 2026,” it said.

The video itself contains the caption: “The Irish army on O’Connell Street”.

The posts were published hours after an alleged stabbing took place on O’Connell Street. 

The incident, which was reported by gardaí as an “assault”, occurred at around 4.30pm on Saturday afternoon and led to the hospitalisation of the victim for non-life-threatening injuries.

However, the video of Defence Forces troops on the street was taken hours earlier during the annual National Services Day Parade.

The parade began at the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square at 12pm, and honoured those serving Ireland in frontline, national security and emergency services.

A spokesperson for the Defence Forces confirmed to The Journal that the video was taken during the parade.

There is also further evidence in the video that it was not taken during a deployment.

An inflatable boat can be seen at the end of the video, with naval personnel walking alongside it, something that would not be typical of a response to a serious crime.

Images from the scene also show white tape cordoning off the area where the alleged crime took place, at the precise location that is visible at the start of the video, with gardaí standing nearby; however, no tape or gardaí are visible in that area in the video.

A man in his 40s was arrested in connection with the alleged stabbing and detained at a garda station, and there was no call to deploy the army during this incident.

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