Ireland is set to make 2 February ‘National Hijab Day’ to celebrate Muslim women and a video shows an Irish senator saying it “should be a national celebration within Irish society”.
This video was taken out of context. It shows a senator referencing “International Hijab Day” and saying she thinks the hijab should be celebrated. There is no record of Irish authorities introducing a national day for the hijab.
A video of an Irish senator celebrating the hijab is being shared on social media with claims that “Ireland is set to make February 2 every year ‘National Hijab Day’ to celebrate Muslim women”.
But there are no records of Irish authorities officially introducing any such national day, and the senator in the video says the clip “misrepresents the intent and content” of her speech.
The video dates back to 2 February 2022 (2:02:55). It shows Senator Eileen Flynn referencing an “International Hijab Day” and saying: “Today I just want to celebrate the hijab, and it should be a national celebration within Irish society as well.”
Ms Flynn told Reuters: “To my knowledge, there is no officially declared ‘National Hijab Day’ in Ireland.
“However, World Hijab Day is an internationally recognised event celebrated in many countries, including by individuals and communities in Ireland.”
World Hijab Day is observed on 1 February and invites women from all backgrounds to wear the hijab for the day. The organisation behind it told Full Fact it did not have any official partner countries and was not aware of an Irish national equivalent observed on 2 February.
Ms Flynn told us: “I stand by the values of inclusion, equality and respect for all communities and I reject any attempt to use my words as a tool for hatred or division.”
Full Fact has contacted The Consulate General of Ireland and Houses of the Oireachtas (the Irish parliament) about a National Hijab Day in Ireland and will update this article if we receive a response.
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This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as missing context because there is no record of Irish authorities introducing a ‘National Hijab Day’ and the senator in the video says the clip misrepresents the intent and content of her speech.
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