A spokesperson for the Health Minister says neither Stephen Donnelly, nor the department, paid for any promotion of a tweet that has gained attention this afternoon.
The tweet was posted this afternoon at 3:40pm that comprised of a video of the Health Minister acknowledging the Cabinet approval of the National Maternity Hospital today.
The tweet reads; "Today is an important milestone in delivering a world-class new National Maternity Hospital for women and babies.
"Cabinet approval of the legal framework ensures all legally permissible services will be available. We'll work now to get this vital hospital built."
Within a half an hour of the tweet being published from Minister Donnelly's account, it was retweeted more than 200 times with a lot of interactions, from what some say, appear to be bot accounts.
The video attached to the tweet has now been viewed almost 50,000 times.
Today is an important milestone in delivering a world-class new National Maternity Hospital for women and babies. Cabinet approval of the legal framework ensures all legally permissible services will be available. We'll work now to get this vital hospital built. pic.twitter.com/sTvT8qaYpt
— Stephen Donnelly (@DonnellyStephen) May 17, 2022
Twitter users were quick to spot the speed of the success of this tweet.
Hello Stephen,
Just out of curiosity, how much are you paying for the retweets? pic.twitter.com/ItnBwV01UF— Ceann Dearg, Ceithre Shúile (@DamienBasquill) May 17, 2022
Earlier today,Cabinet signed off on plans for the new National Maternity Hospital.
Ministers approved the governance deal at their meeting this morning - which will see the hospital relocated from Holles St to the campus of St Vincent's University Hospital.
The government faced concerns about the phrase 'clinically appropriate' as set out in the legal documents.
