‘Blackening of Ireland’ leaflet is ‘fake news’ says Longford Cllr Adejinmi

A number of households received the publication through letterboxes and expressed concern to both gardaí and local councillors as to its origins.

Cllr Uruemu Adejinmi has expressed concern at the spreading of what she referred to as “fake news” last week, but stressed that, while there have been incidents of racism in the county, the majority of people in Longford are very welcoming.

“This isn’t even a paper, it’s a newsletter and it was distributed by someone with the intent to cause discord and upset,” she explained.

“It’s unfortunate that, when people are pulling together and helping each other to get through this catastrophic event of a pandemic, that there are others out there who are just being a nuisance.”

Cllr Adejinmi has done her best to reassure those who have received the publication that Longford is a very welcoming county with a united community working together to support each other.

“There are people in Longford who loudly embrace everybody in the community, which is a far cry from the content of this newsletter,” she said.

“The content of this newsletter is unsubtantiated. It’s fake news intended to gaslight people.”
Cllr Adejinmi believes that these leaflets were distributed to just a few households in Longford, owing to the fact that the publication is not a freesheet.

“Households could have received it by chance or they could have been targeted. But it’s just people stirring things up. We see that happening so much on Twitter,” she said, stressing the importance of not engaging with racist content on social media.

“It’s stuff like this that takes us several steps backwards. But in Longford, everyone is welcoming of everyone else. There is no basis to this publication.

“Thankfully, there is a new harassment bill going through the Dáil, which will see people charged with this behaviour,” she concluded.