Extremists attempting to ‘undermine State and inflict violence’, says Taoiseach

Political extremists have moved on to “an organised attempt to undermine the State” and “inflict violence on people”, the Taoiseach has said.

Micheal Martin said there was a “considerable degree of concern” around extremism in Ireland, which he described as a “threat to our society”.

His comments came after threats against politicians and migrants across the country as well as a Garda investigation into alleged preparations for a far-right attack on a mosque for which two people have been charged before the courts.

Mr Martin said: “This now is a very strong basis for indicating that this has moved on from sort of individuals or the general sort of narrative, to an organised attempt to undermine the State and our society and, above all, to inflict violence on people.”

The Taoiseach said everyone needed to be respected, regardless of “ethnic background, colour or creed”.

Meanwhile, the Garda commissioner said he was concerned about “outside influence” from abroad impacting violent political extremists in Ireland.

Commissioner Justin Kelly said gardai had concerns around political extremism “whatever direction it is” and said the service had done a lot of work to increase capabilities to counter it.

“This is a trend we’re seeing all across Europe. There is certainly an increase in what I would call violent political extremism,” he said.

“We’re not immune to that here on the island of Ireland. Obviously, there’s been a number of quite high-profile events here and we continue to monitor it.”

The Taoiseach and commissioner were speaking to reporters at the largest single attestation of new gardai since 2019.

A total of 194 gardai and 17 Garda reserves will now be assigned to Garda divisions across the country.

It will be followed next week by the largest class of Garda recruits to enter the college in a decade.

Mr Kelly said gardai continued to monitor the risk level around extremism, which was currently “moderate”.

Asked about the alleged planned attack on a Galway mosque on behalf of a far-right extremist group, the commissioner agreed that some of the details may be shocking to the public.

He said: “But for us in An Garda Siochana, it is not something we’re shocked by.

“Obviously, we gather intelligence and we understand from partners abroad what the trends are, what’s going on.

“This is something that I’ve said previously: There are people here and they intend to do harm, particularly to some of our migrant communities.

“And that’s something that we have to be completely alive to – we’re not immune to that. We’ve seen that in the UK, and across Europe.”

Mr Kelly said there was “for sure”, outside influence on political extremists and added: “It is certainly something we are concerned about.”

Also speaking to reporters, Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan said he had “great confidence” in the ability of An Garda Siochana to gather information on ongoing threats but said there was a need for the public to provide assistance to gardai.

The commissioner said gardai were aware of fewer than 10 groups in the violent political extremism space.

He said “some individuals and groups are more organised than others”, adding that the groups were wide-ranging ideologically and could often have confused messaging and splintering.

He said gardai were most concerned about those who were seeking to take violent action, saying this related to a “small number” of people.

But he warned that there was still potential for “dangerous activities” among those small numbers.

Mr Kelly said gardai had spent a lot of time gathering intelligence “about all these different types of groups”.

The commissioner also said there had been “really concerning” incidents of threats against politicians and asylum seekers online.

“We’ll be particularly relentless around people who target people in positions of authority, people in IPAS (International Protection Accommodation Services) centres, any of that type of activity,” he said.