The eejit has landed! Hilarity at SF councillor who questioned Moon landing
Sinn Féin councillor makes ludicrous claim that Moon landing was actually faked
COMMENTS by a Sinn Féin councillor that the Moon landings were faked have been met with derision by space enthusiasts.
Limerick councillor Séighin Ó Ceallaigh has hit out against the proposed ‘One Giant Leap’ theme for his local St Patrick’s Day parade, claiming that Neil Armstrong’s Moon landing is ‘fake news’ and ‘much disputed’.
He strongly objected at a council meeting and said that, instead of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1969 ‘fake’ Moon landing, this year’s parade should celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1919 Limerick Soviet, when rebels set up a very brief communist republic in the city.
Astronomy enthusiasts yesterday hit back at the councillor’s comments as ludicrous.
A member of Limerick Astronomy Club, Frank Ryan, told the Irish Daily Mail that people in Cllr Ó Ceallaigh’s position should not float conspiracy theories as opinions.
‘I think that it’s outrageous that a councillor in this day and age would make such ridiculous claims,’ he said.
Mr Ryan added that such claims of fake news create a danger of ‘heading down the same path as the same type of politics that Donald Trump revolves around’.
‘I think that it [Limerick parade’s Moon landing anniversary celebration] is a fantastic idea, in terms of trying to educate children and get them interested in the sciences.’
According to the Limerick Leader, Sheila Deegan, arts and culture officer with Limerick City and County Council, said during a briefing of members of Limerick Metropolitan District: ‘The theme is just an idea about recognising the growth in Limerick over the past number of years.’
Science Foundation Ireland welcomed the proposed astronomical theme, describing it as an opportunity to ‘bring science to life’ and ‘engage people with science and technology in a creative and interactive way’.
Limerick’s St Patrick’s Day festival is set to take place from March 15 to March 18. Some 1,300 marching band musicians will take to the streets of the city on the final day of the festival.
The councillor’s comments would not impress Coca-Cola, which has been a Sinn Féin sponsor and which was also a major sponsor of the Moon landing broadcasts in 1969 – guaranteeing the landing would be seen by millions of people outside America.
The company said the Moon landing was a ‘very important first’ for Coca-Cola, allowing it major global TV advertising for the first time.
The company later brought out tables at Sinn Féin fundraisers – part of Cola-Cola president Don Keogh’s attempts to encourage the party towards peace.
Cllr Ó Ceallaigh has had some controversial moments during his career.
In 2014, he failed to pay to park his car in the Mary Street area of Limerick city. Instead, he placed a sign on his dashboard saying ‘this car belongs to Cllr Séighin Ó Ceallaigh’. However, the traffic warden did not appear too bothered about Mr Ó Ceallaigh’s title, and issued the councillor a €40 parking fine.
The conspiracy theory that the Moon landing was staged is not a new idea.
However, those who travelled to the Moon are not too bothered by those who doubt them.
Michael Collins, who waited in the command module of Apollo 11 while his fellow astronauts walked on the surface of the Moon, said such theories ‘make him laugh’.
Not the first Michael Collins to run foul of Irish republicans, the retired astronaut told Air & Space magazine in 2016 that he would love to attend a convention of Moon landing conspiracy theorists to hear their ranting. ‘I think the number stays pretty constant – about 6% of Americans think it’s a hoax, and that we never went,’ he said. ‘That’s supposed to make me outraged, but it doesn’t, it makes me laugh. I’d love to get together with a whole crowd of them in one room, with all these different theories, and listen to them and laugh at them.’
The proposed Moon landing theme for the festival in Limerick was also welcomed by the Government-funded Science Foundation Ireland. It said a parade celebrating the Moon landing ‘provides an opportunity to celebrate this phenomenal human achievement which inspired so many people’.
‘I think it is a fantastic idea’ ‘It makes me laugh’