When news of Eamon Ryan’s resignation broke on Wednesday morning, some media outlets might have initially been sceptical.

Only hours earlier, a number of Irish media organisations reported that Francie Gorman, the IFA president, had resigned. It quickly emerged that a hoax email alleging the Laois man’s departure had been circulated (although not to this paper).

The IFA, describing the email as “utterly false”, has advised news organisations to check stories sent to them against the IFA’s own website, or social media outlets.

The fact that Gorman’s fictitious resignation was linked to the adoption of the Nature Restoration Law (NRL) by the EU was a sign it might be bogus.

Gorman is a fighter, not a quitter, and while the NRL is controversial, it’s hardly a resignation matter.

If that causes news media to think twice about covering press releases purporting to have come from the IFA, or to not bother verifying such stories, perhaps the hoaxer, who can only have been acting maliciously, will think their work was well worthwhile.