THE LATEST RELEASE of documents from the Epstein files has come with numerous examples of fabricated reports that some prominent Irish people had relationships with the convicted sex offender.
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) published a new tranche of documents related to investigations into the activities of Jeffrey Epstein last Friday and the fallout has continued into this week for some of the people named in them.
The United States Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November last year. Under the Act, the DoJ is required to publish all “unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” related to the investigation and prosecution of the late US paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
There are millions of documents in the latest release and some people have taken the opportunity to spread false allegations about notable figures in Irish public life, including U2 singer Bono, Taoiseach Micheál Martin and former justice minister Alan Shatter.
One X user who goes by the name The Irish Git posted a video in which he claimed that Bono was “a very close associate of the paedophile”, referring to Epstein, who died in a New York prison in 2019 in what a coroner deemed a suicide. That post has been liked 2,400 times and reposted more than 800 times.
The X user said that Bono’s name appears “hundreds of times” in the files, but a keyword search reveals that is not the case. The term “pro bono” appears many times. The mentions of the U2 frontman, however, mostly include guest lists for charity and awards events.
A person’s name being mentioned in the Epstein files does not indicate any wrongdoing on their part.
In one email to restaurant magnate Guiseppe Cipriana in July 2010, Epstein wrote about how Bill Gates was not coming to a dinner with him and instead was staying in his hotel with Bono.
“gates is not going to be there for dinner. he is going to stay at his hotel. with bono.. —boring,” the emails reads.
Another email that mentions Bono was sent by publicist Peggy Siegel to someone whose name has been redacted, in which she describes a dinner on Russian businessman Roman Abramovich’s yacht.
“Had dinner on “Luna” with Roman, pasha, Guy Ostuy, Pigozzi, Jane Wenner, Ali and Bono. What was I doing there? I had a magical time as Bono held court and told hilarious stories about Bob Dylan, Prince who performed in Nice the night before, van Morrison and Pink Flyod…!”
The Irish Git also claimed that Bono had flown on Epstein’s private jet, but the documents do not show that.
A response to the video on X features a photo of Bono with two young women in bikinis and a comment reading:
“The full force of the law should come down on Bono in regard to the Epstein files.”
The photo was actually taken in St Tropez, France in 2008. It caused some controversy at the time, but the picture did not come from the Epstein files and does not implicate Bono in any wrongdoing.
The post on X garnered 27,000 ‘likes’ and was reposted more than 9,000 times.
The full force of the law should come down on Bono in regard to the Epstein files.#IrishEpsteinfiles #HowIrelandWorks https://t.co/6JGOMno2NS pic.twitter.com/5Eo5zlKEa0
— 🇮🇪Taxi Dave🇮🇪 (@DublinTaxiDave) February 1, 2026
Alan Shatter
Another false claim circulating online is that former justice minister Alan Shatter met Epstein in Dublin in 2011.
Shatter was a Fine Gael politician who served as minister for justice between 2011 and 2014. He has been an outspoken supporter of Israel during its war on the Gaza Strip in Palestine.
A screenshot of an itinerary that purports to be from the Epstein files and includes stops in Brussels and Dublin has been shared on X and Facebook alongside the false claim that it details Epstein’s travel plans.
In fact, it is the itinerary of then-US attorney general Eric Holder, who travelled to Europe in September 2011. He met European Union officials in Brussels and then Shatter in Dublin on 21 September 2011.
People have asked X’s AI chatbot Grok to confirm that the itinerary is actually Epstein’s.
Grok replied to one user saying it “appears genuine” but also that people should cross-check it with official court documents to be sure.
The document is a travel itinerary dated September 21, 2011, detailing a trip from Brussels to Dublin with meetings, including one at 4:00 PM IST with Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter and Secretary General Brian Purcell.
It connects to Jeffrey Epstein as it’s presented as his…
— Grok (@grok) December 30, 2025
The false claim has also appeared on YouTube and Facebook.
Shatter is not the only Irish politician to be falsely accused of being in the Epstein files.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has also been targeted by bogus claims.
A Facebook post of a picture appearing to show Epstein and Martin arm-in-arm carries the caption:
“Taoiseach Mehole [sic] Martin and his very good friend Jeffery Epstein. Is this why the flight records of certain aircraft were shredded? Flight plans shredded for a certain aircraft flying out of Ireland ?”
The same image was also shared on X by far-right activist and failed election candidate Ben Gilroy.
(Top) A fake image appearing to show Epstein and Micheál Martin. (Bottom) The original fake image with Nigel Farage.
The image is clearly fake and is actually an altered version of another fake image that originally had UK politician Nigel Farage in Martin’s place.
A reverse image search showed no instances of the image with Farage were present online before yesterday.
All the Epstein files are publicly available on the US Department of Justice’s website, which has a dedicated library that can be searched using keywords in order to confirm the authenticity of claims made on social media.
The DoJ has so far published 3.5 million pages, including 2,000 videos and 180,000 images.
The Epstein Library can be found here.
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