Northern Ireland

Gemma O'Doherty lambasted for claiming Troubles may have been 'staged event'

John Waters and Gemma O'Doherty
John Waters and Gemma O'Doherty John Waters and Gemma O'Doherty

CONTROVERSIAL figure Gemma O'Doherty has been roundly condemned for claiming the Troubles may have been a "staged event".

The fringe far-right activist and former journalist raised the false conspiracy theory during an online video with fellow writer John Waters.

The pair have been seeking to challenge through the courts the Republic's Covid-19 restrictions.

In the video, Ms O'Doherty said: "Honestly we will be doing a stream at some point on were the Troubles an entire staged event.

"It's quite possible, including some of the bombings that took place in the UK.

"Because we really now have learned so much from our history that most of these major events in history were set up by this cabal, who are setting up this 'plandemic'. But we won't go on about that now."

The Dublin woman's comments received widespread criticism after a clip of the recording was circulated on Twitter.

Comedian and Irish News columnist Jake O'Kane expressed anger over the video, tweeting that "saying the Troubles were staged is insulting to those who suffered through them".

Anothern Twitter user said: "Surely this should be treated with the same seriousness as they do for people denying the holocaust."

Another asked: "Have we reached peak balloonacy yet?"

Ms O'Doherty, who has been unsuccessful in recent elections, has previously uploaded videos peddling conspiracy theories and railing against LGBT people, Muslims and immigrants.

She was suspended from Twitter in July, having been banned last year from Facebook, as well as YouTube for breaching the video site's "hate speech" policy.