On a day of rapid (and late) changes to EU and Irish foreign policy, my take yesterday on the hard questions the Russian war on
#Ukraine
poses to our policy of neutrality/military neutrality
Breaking: Ireland's first drug testing project due to operate at Electric Picnic. HSE are piloting a limited checking service as part of their harm reduction strategy at festivals. Due to be announced later today.
More to follow soon on
@irishexaminer
Gardaí say white Irish male, not a migrant, involved in alleged sexual assault.
The claims that male refugees or black men carried out the attack have fuelled and heightened anti-refugee protests in Finglas in recent days
Decriminalisation of personal drug possession in Portugal did not result in any increase in drug use or in drug trafficking, senior Portuguese police officer tells Oireachtas Committee on Drugs
Man arrested under the Offences Against the State Act early on Wednesday morning has been charged by officers in the Special Detective Unit and is due before court this morning
Irish security services identified fake online accounts linked to the Russian state that were generating “anti-government” messages in the run up to the election, the Irish Examiner understands
Barry, a highly experienced journalist, shows admirable composure while being harangued and encircled, as he calmly tried to do his job covering anti-immigrant protests
@defenceforces
update on trooper Shane Kearney (injured in Lebanon gun attack last Dec):
"Tpr Shane Kearney continues his recovery in Beaumont hospital. He is responding very well to treatment and is no longer critical with his condition now described as stable...
End of an era: The last of the 'Old Dublin Office' of the
@irishexaminer
departs today.
@EvelynRing
has done more than 40 years in the trenches, much of it covering the health brief...
Ireland to contribute over €120m in non-lethal military aid to Ukraine this year with
@defenceforces
due to provide further training to Ukrainian forces
Dáil backs
@simoncoveney
proposals for Ireland to join 4 new Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) projects - part of EU security and defence policy.
Areas are cyber threats, disaster relief, Special Operations Forces medical training & systems for mine countermeasures
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris reveals he is setting up a review of investigations where gardaí are accused of domestic or sexual violence to make sure they are conducted appropriately.
He said this was in light of the Sarah Everard case in London
Long Read on
@IRLCoDF
report
-Focusing on costs, instead of threats, is the wrong way to look at defence & security
-Major questions over how the extra 2,000-3,000 personnel are going to be recruited
-Implementation, and who is driving it, will be key
-Ireland a 'point of least resistance' for South American cartels 'bombarding' Europe with cocaine;
-One navy vessel patrolling Irish waters;
-No Maritime Security Strategy;
-No National Security Strategy
The Irish Examiner understands that Garda Commissioner Drew Harris is meeting police in Dubai to discuss the possibility of bringing the Kinahan cartel leaders back from the UAE to Ireland to face justice
More soon on
@irishexaminer
In a rare interview, Garda's intelligence chief gives an insight in their work in today's
@irishexaminer
Topics include:
-New IS threat
-60 cases of terror funding per year
-US groups fund far right in Ireland
-Disinformation
-Russia
-Security oversight
Russian embassy in Ireland says recent Russian TV reports showing the impact a possible nuclear attack against Britain, which also devastates Ireland, were a matter for the programme editors
Mounting international security threats and a major domestic plan to rescue the
@defenceforces
but no dedicated defence minister for more than 13 years
Independent candidate Tania Doyle - who, along with her husband, were subject to an assault while campaigning by men espousing anti-immigrant views - has been elected
#LE24
Garda update: Sam Windrum has been located safe and well. An Garda Síochána would like to thank the public and the media for their assistance. No further media action is required.
Revenue signs contract for a new Customs Cutter, replacing RCC Suirbhéir, in service since 2004.
It will be built by AuxNaval in Spain and is expected to come into service in 2025.
The Cutter will be used by Revenue’s Maritime Unit, responsible for patrolling 3,000 km of coast
A Garda negotiator has managed to resolve an incident at a house in Carlow this morning after a 999 call said there was a man in a distressed state claiming to have access to a firearm.
Gardaí said no firearm was located at the property and no injuries were reported
#iestaff
Two stories we ran over the weekend, from opposite ends of the drugs trade:
1. South American drug cartels given opportunity to target weakened North Atlantic trafficking route after further
@naval_service
cuts, with
@RACO_DF
comments
@HRBdrugslibrary
French navy make two 1.2 tonne-seizures of cocaine bound for Europe.
Of relevance to Ireland's capacity to patrol Irish-controlled waters,
@maoc_n
said both seizures were made possible by the "permanent availability" of French assets in that part of the Atlantic
Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre- Narcotics
The 16-year-old arrested yesterday in relation to public order incidents in Carrigiline last Saturday has been charged. He is due before Cork District Court this morning
Numbers swelling to over 300 or so as anti-immigrant protest gathers at Garden of Remembrance. Fair number of masked men swinging flags. Plenty of shouting.
Gardaí investigating:
-second anti-refugee assault - recorded and circulated online - in Dublin;
-calls at one protest to "burn down" refugee accommodation;
-violent incident at Ashtown migrant camp and are hopeful of identifying assailants
Amerie Jo Garza's father, a med aide, says he found out she was one of the victims when he arrived on the scene and was helping another little girl covered in blood. She told him her best friend had been shot. When he asked her name, she said his daughter's. There aren't words.
Gardaí have identified a suspect, aged in his late teens, for the criminal damage of a defibrillator at a business premises in Blarney, Co Cork on 18 Dec last.
Gardaí were able to identify the suspect as a result of the support of the community.
Compensation has been paid.
Ireland will soon have access to an EU rapid response team to deal with hybrid attacks, including on its critical infrastructure as well as election interference and disinformation
Fair to say this weekend's
@CitizAssembly
is a big one and will be a lot for members to digest.
They will be listening to gardai, academics, experts, the courts, prisons, more gardai and experts, probation, youth workers, psychiatrists, advocates & a battery of legal academics.
Slain garda Colm Horkan was a “big Christmas man” and recent weeks have been “tough” on the family, his brother Dermot has told a garda conference
#iestaff
On a busy day, talks between
@gardarep
and the Commissioner have broken down.
GRA General Secretary Ronan Slevin said today's meeting was "a complete waste of time" and that their relationship with Drew Harris was now "in many ways irreparable"
More on
@irishexaminer
Gardaí in Pearse Street seize €130k in cash & €600k in cannabis herb in 3 linked searches in Wicklow and Dublin:
-stop car in Rathnew, seize herb & arrest driver
-stop car in Walkinstown, seize €85k & arrest driver
-search house in Dublin and seize €45k & arrest 4 people
Walking into town I see a garda having a chat with the morning group gathered outside a methadone clinic. The garda leaves and, as I pass the crowd, I hear "He's ah rite".
#communitypolicing
Huge seizure of drugs in Cork Port.
Initial indications suggest hundreds of kilos confiscated.
Tests being conducted, but suspected to be crystal meth.
Not for domestic market and may be for export.
Linked searches in Kerry and number of arrests made.
More on
@irishexaminer
soon
The Anti-Corruption Unit of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau make an eight arrest in an ongoing investigation into alleged corrupt practices at a state education and training board
#IEstaff
Should the grey boundaries of Irish neutrality be stretched to protect the lives of civilians in Ukraine from Russian missiles? A broad range of voices give their view
Two unarmed uniform gardaí disarm a man brandishing a loaded sawn-off shotgun after he robbed a taxi driver.
Garda sources express serious concern that a loaded firearm, along with spare ammunition, was used in the robbery of a taxi driver
"We can’t have a situation where young people are fearful to walk the streets at night"
Ballyfermot councillor
@DaithiDoolan
reacts to horrific attack on 17-year-old girl
HSE issue alert to ecstasy users after super-strength tablet identified by
@MANDRAKE_LAB
The warning comes as
@drugsdotie
continues its harm reduction campaign targeting festivals
@HRBdrugslibrary
Man who died during search in Derbyshire is considered the main suspect behind the kidnapping. He was a senior Provisional IRA figure and head of major organised crime outfit, heavily involved in ATM robberies
While eyes are on the Special Criminal Court, a separate story in breaking regarding the arrest, in a completely separate matter, of a retired senior garda.
More to follow on
@irishexaminer
In case you're wondering why the Gardaí facilitated the saturation media coverage of the Hutch return and hearing yesterday, it was a distraction from this much bigger story and the media fell for it, hook, line and sinker.
"In the case of Ireland, you cannot have neutrality if there is no rules-based international order that respects and guarantees this neutrality"
@NATO
military chief tells
@iiea
after formal visit to
@defenceforces
McKee Barracks
#Ukraine
Special report in today's
@irishexaminer
on innovative projects aimed at steering juveniles, including the most chaotic, away from crime
#iestaff
#buyapaper
High Court refuses pre-trial motion by State seeking to stop the courts from examining a constitutional challenge taken by
@GCraughwell
over a "secret unlawful agreement" allowing British RAF to intercept aircraft over Irish airspace
Previous State claim:
In a detailed and wide-ranging speech at
@UCC
top
@naval_service
officer Cpt Brian Fitzgerald talks about security of sub-sea cables, the threat from (very lucrative) illegal fishing, policing the Brexit sea border, and much else...
#iestaff
Four-fold rise in young people presenting with eating disorders to community specialist services amid staffing crisis at inpatients units
And
@CraftyReporter
talks to
@Cormacryan01
about his 6k cycle across the US for
@bodywhys
@simoncoveney
sanctions dispatch of 10 tonnes or 5,000 units of ready-to-eat meals and 200 units of body armour to Ukraine.
They come from existing Defence Forces’ stocks & have been shipped. They are expected to arrive at a Polish logistics hub in the next few days.
Ireland has its work cut out to implement demanding EU directives on securing critical infrastructure and on cyber security by October, with comment from
@BrianHonan
and Prof Andrew Cottey
@GovUCC
A drugs task force which has highlighted a crack cocaine “emergency” in its area has said that none of the additional funding it requested from the Government has been provided
@TallaghtT
@HRBdrugslibrary
Department of Health holds off on new national drugs strategy despite calls by the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use for it to be published “as a matter of urgency”
A joint
@gardainfo
@defenceforces
operation saw the removal of three armed robbers & one drug dealer to Lithuania and the extradition back to Ireland of a Lithuanian to face drug-trafficking charges
#iestaff
Five people have been arrested in Ireland as part of a major operation by authorities here, Lithuania and Britain targeting a Lithuanian organised crime gang.
The gang is involved in trafficking drugs, human beings and money laundering.
#iestaff
more to follow on
@irishexaminer
Young people taking drugs at music festivals say they are afraid to seek medical help, as HSE prepares for its second of three pilot harm reduction events at
#indie2022
this weekend
@HRBdrugslibrary
@drugsdotie
Small EU countries such as Ireland are not safe from the threat posed by information manipulation from hostile countries
@eu_eeas
expert tells
@iiea
and urges every country to have a national counter
#disinformation
strategy and a "clear leader"
Government announces expansion of
@ncsc_gov_ie
-staff to increase from 25 to 45 over the next 18 months, and to 70 within five years;
-estimated budgetary increase for 2022 of €2.5m;
-role of Director of NCSC to be re-advertised at salary of €184K
#iestaff
#cybersecurity