THE GOVERNMENT IS monitoring a number of suspected jihadists in Ireland, the Minister for Foreign Affairs has confirmed.
Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast, Charlie Flanagan confirmed the existence of files on these people, but declined to specify how many are involved.
He stressed that a terror attack in Ireland is not likely.
“Ireland is very low in terms of threat, but we obviously need to remain on alert,” Flanagan explained.
He said constant work is needed to “remove the glamour” of terror groups, and to take steps to remove “hate preachers”.
New terror charges were introduced just before Christmas as part of the efforts to stamp out terrorism.
“I believe the important thing is that we remain in close contact with communities in order to prevent what we call radicalisation,” the Minister said.
He was speaking after meeting with other EU foreign ministers, during which the European Union promised to boost political and economic support for Tunisia to ensure its transition to democracy is not derailed by last month’s deadly attack on a tourist resort.
The attack on the resort of Sousse left 38 tourists dead, most of them British, and came just months after the killing of 22 people at the Bardo Museum in the capital Tunis in March.
Additional reporting by © AFP 2015
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say