Hole in Ireland's Portmarnock Beach is a hand-dug sandpit, not a crater from a cosmic event

By: Pallavi Sethi
September 15 2023

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Screenshot from a Virgin News report that a meteor crater was discovered on Portmarnock Beach, Republic of Ireland. Source: Facebook/Screenshot

Context

On September 13, Virgin News Media, Ireland's national news service, featured a story of a "huge mysterious crater" found in Portmarnock Beach. The news channel spoke to a local astrophysics enthusiast, Dave Kennedy, who insisted that "the small but heavy rock" inside the hole "came from above." Virgin News Media shared the video on Facebook, which has accrued over 300,000 views. 

In fact

The mystery was solved after a video surfaced on Twitter showing the crater-maker, aka a man digging the hole using his child's hand shovel. 

The Twitter user who shared the video tweeted, "lads I'm in bits. Virgin Media news is after reporting on a hole on portmarnnock beach that 'Could be the aftermath of a cosmic event'. Some fellas literally dug it the day before with a kid's shovel."

Irish Star identified the men behind the sandpit as Charlie Wallace, Peter McEvoy, and Chris Flood.

Contrary to the facts, the local astrophysics enthusiast, Dave Kennedy, was confident a meteor stuck the beach and caused the hole. Speaking to Virgin Media News, Kennedy claimed, "Only about a month ago, I was watching a documentary from NASA on exactly what you're looking at behind you. So, when I looked at it and saw how uniform it is and the blast crater, I knew immediately that what I was looking at is an impact site."

Virgin Media has since reported that a meteor did not cause the hole. 

The verdict

The hole in Portmarnock Beach was a sandpit dug by a man, not a crater caused by a meteor. Therefore, we have rated this claim as false.