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A Belgian Army soldier and policeman patrol on a main boulevard in Brussels. AP/Press Association Images

Tom Clonan Video means it's official - Ireland is a target for Islamic State

“Ireland fits precisely the target profile that attracts ISIS terrorists.”

A NEW ISLAMIC State propaganda video appears to confirm what has been apparent for some time now. It is official. Ireland, and Irish citizens are a priority target for Islamic State militants.

The video, which purports to be from Islamic State, clearly shows the Irish tricolor among the flags of nations it identifies as a coalition of ‘devils’ and enemies of ISIS.

This ‘revelation’ will come as no surprise to most Irish citizens. Irish people have been killed and injured in almost all Islamist attacks in the west including the Paris attacks, the Tunisian massacre in June of this year, the London 7/7 attacks, the Madrid bombings, Bali and 9/11.

If confirmed as authentic, the latest ISIS video simply confirms what most Irish people have known all along. ISIS and Al Qaeda regard Irish people as legitimate targets in their campaign against western values.

Almost all Irish citizens seem to realise this.

The Irish government on the other hand, seems to be keen to play down the threat. Their attitude seems to be one of, ‘nothing to see here, move along now’.

Lessons learned

isis-2 A clip from the video,purported to be from Isis.

On Monday, just ten days after the Paris attacks, Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald gave a worrying interview on RTE Radio’s News at 1 on the ‘lessons learned’ from the incident.

When asked if the Paris attacks had prompted a change in the perceived threat level to Irish citizens on the part of government here, Minister Fitzgerald replied that it ‘remain(s) as it was before … We have not changed it’. The Minister for Justice also remarked, ‘Ireland is not as vulnerable to an attack. The alert levels are different’.

Belgium Paris Attacks A Belgian Army soldier and policeman patrol on a main boulevard in Brussels. AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

From a security perspective, there are a number of clear difficulties with the Minister’s responses.

To begin with, the Paris attacks and the subsequent security lock-down in Brussels point to a de-facto change in the threat level to EU citizens posed by Islamic State. In other words, the level of coordination involved in the Paris attacks, the level of violence used and the evidence of a substantial network of support to mount such attacks marks a sea change in Islamic State’s capacity for terrorist operations.

The Paris attacks differ fundamentally from previous attacks such as the Charlie Hebdo incident in terms of the numbers of individuals involved and in the planning, command and control and logistics involved.

In short, Islamic State within the European Union is evolving in sophistication and prowess as quickly and dramatically as its parent organisation ISIS within Iraq and Syria.

This has been commented upon widely throughout the EU. Britain, our nearest neighbour, has decided to recruit an extra 1,900 analysts and field operatives to MI5 and MI6 to counter the threat.

Similar initiatives are underway throughout the EU to bolster intelligence gathering and internal security. This is because there has been a fundamental and existential escalation in the threat to all EU citizens posed by Islamic State.

Mideast Iraq Islamic State Iraqi security forces display a flag of the Islamic State group and weapons and ammunition confiscated after regaining control of during operations, from towns of al-Karma and Saqlawiyah near Fallujah AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

For Minister Fitzgerald to state that the threat level to Irish citizens remains unchanged does not fit with the objective facts. Nor does it fit with plain common sense.

The Paris attackers identified and exploited a weakness in the intelligence continuity between the Belgian and French authorities.

Islamic State in tandem with all Islamist terrorist organisations proactively seeks out such weaknesses and gaps in order to launch attacks. ISIS is attracted to jurisdictions and locations where security infrastructure is poor and where high profile, ‘soft’ targets are available.

Deficiencies

Ireland has the poorest security and intelligence infrastructure within the EU. This is through no fault of an Garda Siochana, the lead intelligence agency within the state.

Nor is it the fault of Defence Forces personnel who support the Gardai in their counter-terrorism role. Our defence and intelligence capacity has been eroded and hollowed out by years of austerity and cutbacks within Justice and Defence.

The comparisons with our EU neighbours are bleak. Britain has MI5, MI6, GCHQ in Cheltenham, the UK Border Force along with its metropolitan and regional constabularies – along with a substantially endowed military intelligence cohort – to monitor internal security and disrupt attacks on the public.

Some attacks will inevitably succeed.

In those circumstances, the reaction time of properly trained, properly armed response units – along with front line doctors and nurses – are essential to reduce loss of life in mass casualty incidents. Such attacks need to be halted within minutes and victims triaged and treated on site. Hence the importance of real time exercises.

Ireland has not mounted such multi-agency exercises in relation to the current threat posed by Islamist extremists. Nor do we have dedicated intelligence agencies such as MI5 or MI6.

Machine Gun Tourism AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

The Gardai are not trained or equipped to deal with such an attack. Ordinary armed Gardai outside of the ERU have received no training for a number of years now in dealing with heavily armed terrorists or those with suicide vests.

The weapons issued to most armed Gardai are no match for the type of Kalashnikov assault weapons favoured by Islamist extremists.

Gardai have repeatedly asked to be issued with a replacement for the Uzi machine gun – especially in the aftermath of the murder of Garda Adrian Donohoe in 2013.

A weapon such as the Colt C8 5.56mm carbine would be the minimum requirement for armed Garda units responding to a terrorist attack in Ireland. At present, detectives responding to such an attack, would be seriously ill-equipped. Irish Army officers have also pointed out in the last week that we are not equipped to deal with the terror threat.

Ireland fits precisely the target profile that attracts ISIS terrorists. Poor security and intelligence infrastructure and high profile soft targets such as the Global Headquarters of Google, Facebook, Twitter – not to mention the use of Shannon Airport by 2.2 million US troops.

Dr Tom Clonan is a former Captain in the Irish armed forces. He is a security analyst and academic, lecturing in the School of Media in DIT. He is also an Independent candidate for Senate-TCD Panel. You can follow him on Twitter here.

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    Mute Pappy O'Daniel
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    Jul 10th 2015, 11:55 AM

    Piece of shit coward. Sits in his car, shoots from his car, does a legger in his car and when he was low on fuel he pulls into a petrol station.

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    Mute Supernova
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    Jul 10th 2015, 12:14 PM

    Happens every day in parts of America, and you don’t hear of it because the majority of them are black

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    Mute Scarr
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    Jul 10th 2015, 12:52 PM

    Supernova – are you saying black people commit the most shootings or reports aren’t newsworthy because it’s a picture we’ve seen thousands of times?

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    Mute Ryan Anthony
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    Jul 10th 2015, 12:55 PM

    Most of the victims are black actually but does the race matter? A crime is a crime is a crime.

    This is being portrayed as a mad man shooting but it seems like more of a gangland style deal.
    Drivebys happen a lot in the US. There were 733 in 2014 alone with 154 deaths.

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    Mute Supernova
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    Jul 10th 2015, 1:11 PM

    Yeah but I’m saying if the individual was black I don’t think it would have been a big a news story I’m afraid. If a white man gets killed all hell breaks loose.

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    Mute Rock Stoneballs
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    Jul 10th 2015, 2:22 PM

    Hang on, are you saying when a black man gets killed all hell *doesn’t* break loose?

    Have you been watching the news coming out of the states for the last year or so?

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    Mute Martin Harte
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    Jul 10th 2015, 11:48 AM

    I dunno how this has gone international? what about all the drive bys that happen in Compton?

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    Mute John Reese
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    Jul 10th 2015, 12:00 PM

    If it was in America this happened you would have quadruple the comments on this story.

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    Mute Shawn Rahoon
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    Jul 10th 2015, 12:19 PM

    …and blaming the NRA.

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    Mute Ryan Anthony
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    Jul 10th 2015, 12:54 PM

    You’d have quadruple the comments if it was the US because it happens every other week in the US, often happens to kids, and it’s once in a blue moon in other countries. The last one in Germany was 2010, we’ve had a dozen HUGE ones in the US since then.

    Perfectly fair game to blame the NRA since they are the second most powerful lobby group in the US, and oppose even moderate gun regulations like preventing civilians from owning military grade weapons, and preventing people from the terrorist watch list or the mentally ill buying guns. You’ll notice we, who have one of the top 5 most conservative gun regs in the world, have never had a mass shooting, and the UK has not had one since the 70s when it adopted very similar rules.

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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Jul 10th 2015, 12:04 PM

    Saadi news but why is it being reported here? We have shootings all the time between rival gangs, does that make news in Germany or is there something more to this?

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    Mute Ben Connolly
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    Jul 10th 2015, 11:58 AM

    hopefully it was Enda and Angela

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    Mute Andrew Nolan
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    Jul 10th 2015, 12:00 PM

    Idiot of the highest order!

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    Mute Egg Head
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    Jul 10th 2015, 11:48 AM

    Tis an ill wind that blows through Bad Windsheim this morning.

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    Mute Richard Cynical
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    Jul 10th 2015, 11:49 AM

    when will the killing end. we need to get rid of guns altogether.

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    Mute Rob O'H
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    Jul 10th 2015, 12:07 PM

    No, don’t be ridiculous. Then Billy the Kid and the ‘Hole in the Ground Gang’, not to mention the most evil German of all time, Kaiser Wilhelm II, will have a free reign.

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    Mute jack frost
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    Jul 10th 2015, 12:20 PM

    his getaway car low on fuel. not very Mr Brooks was he.

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    Mute Caroline Willoughby
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    Jul 10th 2015, 1:31 PM

    So so sad. This senseless violence needs to stop.

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    Mute Ashley Brown
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    Jul 10th 2015, 5:57 PM

    Kaiser Wilhelm II was quite a decent guy. Just a bit egotistical I suppose. Britain vilified him in the Great War for propaganda purposes, that’s all.

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    Mute Patrick J O'CONNOR
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    Jul 10th 2015, 11:42 PM

    @Ashley Brown. He also must have thought of other’s welfare as well,, for he brought in the first European pension and welfare programs,albeit at the behest of Chancellor Otto Von Bismark, without which we might still be fighting for them even now.

    —”Social programs in Germany began in the 1880s.
    “In November 1881, at the direction of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm I, issued a decree stating, “those who are disabled from work by age and invalidity have a well-grounded claim to care from the state.”

    http://archive.coloradoan.com/article/20090118/COLUMNISTS20/90116034/Kaiser-Wilhelm-decreed-first-social-program

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