‘Misinformation growing in Ireland’ warns Kerry's CNN star 

CNN reporter Donie O'Sullivan. Picture:CNN

Before this week, he was just a lad done good from the heart of the Kingdom, but Caherciveen’s Donie O’Sullivan is now the man on everyone’s lips — and Twitter thumbs — with his steadfast reporting from Washington DC in the face of domestic terror.

Like the greatest of Brazilian or Spanish footballers, the single name of Donie is all that is now needed when referring to the CNN journalist, bestowing instant recognition upon the UCD and Queen’s University alumni.

He did the rounds of Irish television on Friday, appearing with the likes of Ryan Tubridy on The Late Late Show on RTÉ, while also telling Colette Fitzpatrick on Virgin Media News earlier in the evening what it was like in the heart of the scenes that shocked not only America, but the entire world, this week.

Before this week’s chaos at the Capitol, Mr O’Sullivan had become one of the foremost authorities in global media on misinformation about Donald Trump’s supposed second term, and how it could end in a crescendo of violence once his supporters realised Joe Biden was indeed to be the 46th president of the US.

Earlier, he told Virgin Media News that Mr Trump’s final days in office “promise to be potentially as dramatic as what we’ve seen over the past four years of his presidency”.

“You saw the scenes that played out here on the streets this week — there was a total breakdown in law enforcement in what should be one of the most secure cities in the world,” he said.

There were concerns that insurrectionists could return to Washington DC when the time for the handover comes, he said.

“What we saw here in the capitol on Wednesday was thousands of conspiracy theorists descend, listen to their conspiracy theorist-in-chief, president Donald Trump, and then march to the US Capitol," he said.

“We were on the ground with them, we actually walked with them as they got to the Capitol, and then they were repeating this lie, this misinformation that Trump somehow did not lose the election.”

Misinformation is also growing in Ireland, he warned. Facebook, with a significant presence in Ireland, is not taking the threat seriously enough, he warned.

He told viewers how his global career began with Storyful in Dublin, which had the foresight to see how misinformation was going to become a major issue in social media.