Enda put on alert of ‘mass attack’ fears

Frances Fitzgerald warned enda Kenny of the threat of international terrorism here, and referred to several individuals ‘of concern’ in a letter classified as secret.

In a letter sent in March, in the week after the attacks in Brussels that killed 32 people, the Justice Minister told the Taoiseach and the then expenditure minister Brendan Howlin that Ireland could not afford to be ‘complacent’.

In the letter, sent to Mr Howlin and copied to the Taoiseach, she said the movement of people between Ireland and Britain required ‘particular focus’.

she was looking for extra funding for the gardaí and said that the threat to Ireland was assessed as ‘moderate’. But

she said there was an urgent need to improve the country’s ability to prevent or respond to a ‘mass casualty attack’.

‘While an attack is possible, it is unlikely,’ she wrote.

‘That said, we cannot afford to be complacent in any way,” she said. ‘as an open and democratic state we cannot consider that we are immune from this threat.

‘There are a number of persons of concern in this jurisdiction who are monitored on an ongoing basis by the Garda authorities and our proximity to Britain requires a particular focus to be drawn on the movement between these islands.’

Large sections of the letter have been redacted but measures mentioned include diversity training to foster closer links with ethnic communities, and to improve security at borders, including the land border with the north.’