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Updated 12.30.
THE GARDAÍ AND the Defence Forces are working to prevent any attack here and detailed preparations have been made in the event of one.
A special meeting to assess how prepared Ireland is in relation to terrorist threats heard that our threat assessment will remain under continuous review.
The meeting was held in the wake of the Manchester terrorist attack to review the state’s arrangements and level of preparedness in the event of an attack.
The Taoiseach and Tanaiste, along with a number of other ministers, were briefed on the threat assessment by security authorities.
It was noted that while a terrorist attack here is possible it is unlikely and there is no specific information in relation to any threat to Ireland from international terrorism.
Security authorities indicated that they remain in daily contact with their counterparts in the UK, the EU and beyond.
However, the meeting was also told that the assessment will remain under continuous review.
Gardaí are working closely with event organisers to ensure that appropriate safety and security measures are in place at events over the summer and regular “scenario exercises” involving a number of agencies continue to be held and the lessons learned are shared among the bodies in question.
The Taoiseach chaired the meeting of Ministers and senior officials of agencies including defence, justice, transport and health.
‘Ireland not immune’
Speaking in the Dail yesterday, the Taoiseach said, “I was very impressed with the immediate response to the tragedy of the first responders in Manchester.”
He noted that any event, whether it be a concert or major sporting event in any country, carries risks.
No matter where one puts the perimeter of security people must congregate and move to where the event actually takes place and this movement is always outside of that perimeter.
However, he said it is important for the government of the day to “give assurance to people that everything humanly possible is being done and put in place to protect the innocent people and citizens of our country”.
Yesterday, the gardaí warned that Ireland is “not immune” from the threat of terrorism, but said that the possibility of an attack here remains unlikely.
Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin raised concerns about Ireland’s preparedness for such an attack.
“Apparently, we are the only EU state that does not have its own national security and intelligence agency. That is something which needs fairly urgent examination. I am sure the Taoiseach will agree that a national committee where different people come together every time there is a crisis is not the ideal response,” said Martin.
Kenny said when the chair of the garda root-and branch review, Kathleen O’Toole begins her work, it will look at security in policing.
“There is an issue as to whether or not we should have a security and intelligence unit as a separate structure and how it currently operates. We will reflect on that,” he said.
This is not the first time the issue of terrorism and Ireland has been raised in the Dáil.
In April, following the terrorist attack in Sweden and the bomb attack on a bus transporting the Borussia Dortmund football team to a Champions League, Labour’s Brendan Howlin said Ireland needed to “up its game” in terms of protections against terrorist attacks.
He said it might be appropriate for a Cobra-style meeting (similar to the kind held in the UK) to be held if there is an attack.
At the time, the Taoiseach said his department does not take the lead in such situations, but said if the nature of the emergency warranted a special arrangement, the Taoiseach’s department would call such a Cobra-style meeting.
Additional reporting by Cliódhna Russell.
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The ambulance service, the hospitals could not cope. They are running daily at 100% . If there was a large attack or disaster in the country we would not be able to cope.
@Martin Sinnott: If a good plan is put is place and rehearsed, we might have a chance. Plan for possible attacks at Croke Park, Aviva, 3arena, racecourses etc. We’d have to use coastguard and Air Corp helicopters (maybe legislate for secondment of equipment/crews from NI), and basically throw people out of A&E to make space. Our infrastructure is what it is unfortunately, so it’s incredibly important that the state prepares for the worst.
I would think there are emergency plans in place at Dublin, Cork and Limerick/Ennis hospitals in case of a major emergency at one of the airports so I would think it would be only a matter of extending that plan to cover possible terrorism attack.
Where I think we are ill prepared is the security to 1. Prevent and 2. react to such an attack.
These teams should be meeting 3/4 times a year and not just as a reaction to events like Manchester.
@Martin Sinnott: correct the reason soo many people died in the Dublin Monaghan bombings was because the country is totally unprepared to deal with the aftermath of a terrorist attack . The reality is your more likely to survive a terrorist attack in another country . Many people died in Dublin Monaghan bombings because doctors where completely inexperience in dealing with bomb blast victims . If the same attack happen north of the border your chances of surviving would be greatly increased .
@Sean O Brien: The reason people died in the Dublin, Monaghan bombings , was on account of the lax security. I was caught up in the attack, thankfully not seriously injured, the Doctors. nurses, medics on the day were true hero’s as were the people in the vicinity who dug for and carried the dead and injured. The gardai under the direction of the FG government of the day only had one objective, the putting down of the Republican’s and turned a blind eye to loyalist terror.
@Martin Sinnott: If there were to be a big disaster the likelihood is it will be a plane crash, rail crash, chemical explosion etc. You can’t go about your life wondering what will fall from the shy next. Keeping the Yanks out of Shannon would be the best protection from a miniscule terrorist attack in Ireland. Tell them to take their bombs and missiles somewhere else.
@George Roche: Jst to inform you , along with your recommendations, we actually don’t have any nursing staff and a shortage of senior medical staff so maybe we should get planes ready to evacuate to England !
@Just Me: id say you were on the grassy knoll also shinnerbot… #clown
@Ted Logan: How would they get past all the trollies choking the corridors.
@Ted Logan: 3/4 times a year? FFS! Minimally, weekly meetings are required, with ongoing contact daily with reviews and updates as each change arises. The price of our freedom is perpetual vigilance. Rational action, taken in time and maintained on high alert.
@james connolly: I’d say if you were there the smell of your sh#it would have required gas masks. And spinal injuries would’nt have been a concern, you have’nt got one.
@Diarmuid: No, It’s just you Diarmuid, all your posts are porkies.
They’ll probably debate it in the dail, set up a committee, wait for the report on the committee’s findings, pay themselves extra for appearing the committee, should have solid guidelines on how to move forward on this in about 5 years time. Only problem is the terrorists ain’t gonna wait till the Irish gov are prepared.
@Adrian: it would make you laugh if it was not so serious!!
They can’t organise a bed for a homeless family never mind take on an Isis threat
@john g mcgrath: they should get the homeless to fight isis. Now that’s problem solving.
@john g mcgrath: so new iodine tablets in the post then…
@Adrian: Mickey mouse would run this kip better.
Several things need to be done. Apart from the security risk to the general public we are going to have first responders going in when everyone else is trying to get away from an incident. How can we expect our paramedics firefighters Gardai and army to go into a situation that there is no planning or specific training for ? Also why on earth don’t we have a separate intelligence agency ? Ireland will fast become operational headquarters of extremist activity in Europe if we don’t properly resource our agencies. That’s if it’s not already happening and the real reason we haven’t had a terrorism incident here. Low profiles and no spotlights being shone only ” monitoring ” . We need to get our country up to speed and we need to do it now !!!!
@Catherine Sims: ‘Ireland will fast become operational headquarters for extremist activity in Europe’ . . . some top notch hysteria there.
@Dan: Hysteria ??? Ok. Please take all your inside knowledge on the subject to the police and the media so. I’m sure they would appreciate it. It we have under resourced agencies dealing with international terrorism we ARE going to have more fund raising groups and other activities going on here. We had fighters here who returned from Syria. Our government ” monitored ” them. The UK put them on trial. Please don’t tell me we aren’t an easy target for people wanting to go undected.
@Catherine Sims: A separate intelligence agency ? which in all possibility would end up spending all its resources/funding investigating corrupt politicians and dodgey dealings among Noreen’s band of Merry men.
@Catherine Sims: So Catherine you have gone from ‘operational headquarters’ to ‘fundraising groups’. Maybe its you who should be sharing all this inside knowledge you have. You will need to get your story straight first though.
@Catherine Sims: There is a major emergency plan for every county in Ireland. In Dublin less than 6 months ago Dublin fire brigade hosted a multi agency major emergency exercise which consisted of a terrorist attack on a concert. The national ambulance service, garda, army and DFB all took part. The major emergency plan involves freeing up E.D departments of non emergency patients in the event of a large scale incident. This also involves a cross border co-operation aspect if required. Please god we will never have to use it but we would not be lacking in our response.
@Dan: trust me ireland is a soft touch and is a major transit point and we have numerous sympathisers and recruiters living here FREELY
Don’t believe the hype and give up all our freedoms cause of a few extremists
Terrorism is at its lowest level since the 1970′s !
https://qz.com/558597/charted-terror-attacks-in-western-europe-from-the-1970s-to-now/
Is these islamofacists want to target us it will impossible to stop the reality is we don’t know them , some of these” Indian ” restaurants are like clearing houses with people constantly coming and going . Imam Noonan in Galway has raised concerns about extremists among Muslims here not that you would know from the compliant media
The threat is already in Ireland ‘ recent arrests by Garda in relation to terror activities have been as a direct tip off from UK US & European Security’
so forget about the Garda having intelligence
Ireland will be targeted and its only a matter of time before this happens’ if terror factions can kill Children do you think they are about Ireland and it’s neutrality
Europe needs to work as a Union and close all Borders’ restrict movements of persons of interest ‘ attach Militarily to European police forces to flush out and eliminate any threats that exist.
We need to be looking at Banking movements too as these move money around all the time and don’t use main stream banking but transfer banking
Anyone associated with terror should be prosecuted to the highest achievable punishments
@Mark Walsh: If they do target us I hope its where the real terrorists are Dail Eireann.
Will be the shortest meeting of the year no doubt.. ah but sure not to worry another meeting will be along shortly in the year dot.
We’ll be grand!
The homeless administered first aid in Manchester and most of our large towns have plenty of those!
On a serious note we are anything but prepared.
We should have a stand alone intelligence service, nobody has any faith in the Garda.
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: yes your right, riddled with corruption and thugs in uniform
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: Untrue! The Tánaiste does and so does the Garda Commissioner. So you’re wrong, completely wrong, there are at least two who believe in the Garda Síochána. There may be others.
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: Untrue! The Tánaiste does and so does the Garda Commissioner. So you’re wrong, completely wrong, there are at least two who believe in the Garda Síochána. There may be others.
Do our defence forces have their own ambulances that could be put to use in an emergency? Even a small number would make a huge difference in the initial few hours.
@George Roche: yes several
@George Roche: 6 4×4 ambulances and a handful of regular ambulances stationed around the country.
@George Roche: sure Fianna Gael would love to abolish the defence forces.
Start by throwing out all those in hospital due to self abuse, that should make plenty of space.
@Scundered: People making comments like this should be banned. You are targeting vulnerable people like Varadkar. What kind of sick people are Fianna Gael.
@Scundered: I reported your comment and i hope the Journal does something because I was banned for less.
Garda figures released state that over half a million terror attacks were foiled in 2015.
“Minister Fitzgerald – Dublin City is under attack, what’s the response?”
‘I’ll be in Dail Eireann first thing in the morning to set up a committee to look into the unfolding crisis’
@Saul Cusack: But the politicians wouldnt care. They would be protected. It is ordinary people who would die. Lets face it the people get hurt politicians hide.
A dedicated Intelligence Agency on the same lines as MI5 would be a beginning. Placing the burden of State Security Intelligence gathering on an already over stretched Garda Service is going to lead to something being missed. We are the only country in Europe that doesn’t have a Separate Internal Security Agency running in parallel to the Police.
@Mick Jordan: Get the healy Raes in. That should sort it.
I’m guessing that’s a short meeting
Army ranger wing wud handle the situation as good as any others, they may be short in numbers but lack nothing else for the job
@Slim Browne: always wondered why we didnt use them to crush the evil provos
@james connolly: Once again I wish you would do some research into your topic , the army rangers were set up as a military unit which would be able to secure towns and roads into the north to help in the evacuation of the catholic/nationalist community .
A ranger unit operates in behind enemy lines to secure objectives and help in evacuations . The Irish military got the idea from a WW2 operation in the Phillipines , the raid on Cabanatuan . But like most organisations in a poorly funded army , have had to adapt to needs .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_at_Cabanatuan
@Ken Hayden: The troll that is presentlyJames Connoly is just one of many aliases he uses. He’s not the brightest in fact he’s depriving some village of an idiot. But the good news is, he’s usually banned fairly quickly.
@Just Me: I recognize his style of words , I think he was all over the George graffiti story . I still enjoy having a pop at him though .
@Ken Hayden @james connolly: Wouldn’t bother with him, Ken. Obviously a complete weirdo.
Lets just kick everyone out that doesn’t have a bloodline since before say the Vikings arrived.
All these resources having to be set up. What a massive cost.
can you imagine it. A fella in a shed with a computer with windows 95 connected to a web cam watching a field,
Sergeant Mikey Murphy from Westmeath with his big ears beer belly and red face is the man to stop them
we are rangers
jolly jolly rangers
Government agencies meet today to assess Ireland’s preparations against f̶a̶l̶s̶e̶ ̶f̶l̶a̶g̶ terrorism
Wafflers
I’d say we’d just about get a poet organised afterwards !
I have zero faith in our emergency public services including the gardai
Hospitals are full to bursting, ambulances dropping off sick people waiting in a queue. So NO we won’t cope when there is a terrorist attack here. It not a question of if but when.
2.5 million people live in Greater Manchester Area, and they managed ti scramble 60 ambulances to deal with the incident last week. How many could we muster for Dublin? My guess is its not 60. In Cork or Waterford – possibly 8 to 10 if they pool resources. In Limerick or Galway probably the same. There isn’t even a plan here for any one of the Emergency Services, not to mention a co-ordinated response. Emergency workers would do their best, and risk their own lives to run towards the scene – but then have to wait for years for the “root and branch” review to identify the shortfalls – without blaming anyone obviously for lacking the foresight to even have a plan. Scary how unprepared we are.
Radicalisation is a weapon of mass destruction triggered by remote. We must find a way to neutralise it.
Let me share this, in case anything I have experienced or learned is of any use to anyone in finding a real way to prevent and/or reverse radicalisation.
https://exiledweb.wordpress.com/2017/05/25/i-think-someone-tried-to-radicalise-me/
I am updating whenever anything relevant occurs to me.
I am contactable through twitter, facebook, or the blog.
They wouldn’t know what’s Ireland and where to find it
Open borders and the government forced redistribution of people will result in endless cultural conflict in the form of terror. There is not many examples in history counter to this.
Ethnically homogeneous countries have little problem with terror – multiculturalism is the greatest lie perpetrated on western peoples in recent years.
@james connolly: Have you nothing better to do than troll around these comment sections? Saw a few your posts today and honestly, you come across as a complete loser. Get a life.
Burn it burn it all.
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