{"id":504684,"date":"2026-06-17T17:46:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T17:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/504684\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T17:46:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T17:46:17","slug":"gardai-debunk-donegal-rally-drone-photo-as-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/504684\/","title":{"rendered":"Garda\u00ed debunk Donegal Rally drone photo as AI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Garda\u00ed in Donegal have been forced to issue a clarification after an AI-altered image claiming to show drone operations for this weekend&#8217;s Donegal International Rally spread across social media.<\/p>\n<p>The image, which was shared by organisers of the King of the Cone competition, appeared to show several Garda-branded drones positioned in front of Letterkenny Garda Station.<\/p>\n<p>The photo features Letterkenny-based garda\u00ed, representatives of the King of the Cone event and members of Letterkenny Chamber.<\/p>\n<p>However, the drones were digitally inserted into the photograph and were never present in the original image.<\/p>\n<p>The altered image was accompanied by claims that Garda drones would be using number plate recognition technology on roads across Donegal.<\/p>\n<p>An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na have since issued a statement describing the claims as false.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are aware that this AI-altered image is in circulation with a post about the use of drones at this weekend&#8217;s Donegal Rally. This is incorrect,&#8221; a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na will have a significant roads policing operation in place for the rally weekend including increased checkpoints, high-visibility patrols, additional marked and unmarked vehicles, Garda motorcyclists and the Garda Air Support Unit.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-sans font-semibold text-xl md:text-[30px] leading-9 text-primary w-full\">\n        You may also be interested in\n    <\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.donegaldaily.com\/lead-stories\/hospital-heart-scanner-put-on-ice-because-of-staff-leave-638103\" class=\"block w-2\/5 shrink-0\" aria-label=\"Hospital heart scanner put on ice because of staff leave\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/hospital-heart-scanner-put-on-ice-because-of-staff-leave.png\" class=\"max-w-full w-full h-full object-contain relative z-10\" width=\"150\" height=\"84\"  alt=\"Hospital heart scanner put on ice because of staff leave\" \/><\/p>\n<p>            <\/a><\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.donegaldaily.com\/sport\/record-turnout-for-donegal-community-games-county-finals-638475\" class=\"block w-2\/5 shrink-0\" aria-label=\"Record turnout for Donegal Community Games county finals\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/record-turnout-for-donegal-community-games-county-finals.jpg\" class=\"max-w-full w-full h-full object-contain relative z-10\" width=\"150\" height=\"84\"  alt=\"Record turnout for Donegal Community Games county finals\" \/><\/p>\n<p>            <\/a><\/p>\n<p>The image has gained major traction online ahead of the rally, which is expected to attract over 80,000 spectators to Donegal over the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, Garda\u00ed and the PSNI launched a joint cross-border road safety operation and warned motorists to expect checkpoints, speed enforcement operations and increased patrols on routes into Donegal.<\/p>\n<p>Garda Chief Superintendent Goretti Sheridan also warned that defective vehicles found on the roads during the rally weekend could be seized.<\/p>\n<p>Watch here:<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Garda\u00ed in Donegal have been forced to issue a clarification after an AI-altered image claiming to show drone&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-504684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}