Does Ireland have any contingency plans against terrorism?

Given everything that has happened recently in France, Australia, Tunisia, etc. it makes you realize that terrorist attacks could potentially happen anywhere, even in Ireland.

I know that they might have something with the IRA, but the likes of ISIS are an entirely different kettle of fish.

There's absolutely no way of knowing if they would attack us.

smash

I'm much more concerned about the Zombie apocalypse.

whiskeyman

We'll call Joe Duffy in our masses

jacksie66

This post has been deleted.

Mr. CooL ICE

Sure it'll be grand, like

Arghus

A cup of tea and a slice of brack should stop them.

Generic Dreadhead

Hopefully not.... otherwise the terrorists win

Sleephead

Yeah, we vote them into the Dail

Boring username

I wrote this after the Charlie Hebdo attacks, basically we are wide open for an attack, and we do not have a dedicated Intelligence service. It's only a matter of time:

Sadly, it's not a matter of if, but when there is a major terrorist attack in Ireland. It may surprise you to know that Ireland has supplied the highest number of foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq:

independent.ie/irish-news/news/ireland-tops-list-of-jihadi-fighters-in-foreign-wars-30563746.html

Eventually, a radicalised fighter will return to Ireland and carry out an attack here. Ireland, unlike most countries, does not have a dedicated intelligence unit . All monitoring is carried out by the Army intelligence unit, G2, and by the National Surveillance Unit of the Gardai, which operate on a shoestring budget.

I don't think there will be a 'spectacular' type attack with bombs or aircraft, as these type of attacks require a lot of access to dangerous materials and advanced weaponry. Likewise, a location such as an embassy would be too well defended.
But I do think we could well be facing a Mumbai style attack in the coming years, where a small cell of armed individuals attack a remote location such as a school or hospital where they could inflict massive casualties before the authorities had a chance to respond quickly.

Unfortunately, the public seem to have this 'sure we're Irish, it'll be grand' mentality when it comes to the reality of modern Islamic terrorism.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=93748351

Richard Hillman

You cannot prevent attacks like the ones today. With bombs, you can gain intel and there are probably more British intelligence agents in the IRA and Unionist groups than there are nutters. You will never be able to stop a lone nutter chopping somebodies head off, a lone car running through a crowded area or a lone gunman shooting in a public place.

Ush1

Say another mass.

hynesie08

Me granny lit a candle so I'm safe.

KomradeBishop

We have a pretty good contingency plan: We haven't invaded any countries or dropped any bombs on them lately - you know, the things that are pissing people off and motivating them to engage in attacks - so we're grand.

kneemos

Let the cows out on the road.

Call Sgt Reilly.

Text Alert.

If all this fails pull the curtains.

hardy_buck

KomradeBishop wrote: »

We have a pretty good contingency plan: We haven't invaded any countries or dropped any bombs on them lately - you know, the things that are pissing people off and motivating them to engage in attacks - so we're grand.

What has Tunisia done then? or Nigeria, or Kenya, or Kuwait, or Mumbai?
The people who carry out these atrocities are not just attacking the traditional coalition of UK FR USA, they are trying to attack the very essence of Western society. Boko Haram literally means Western education is forbidden. The things we have spent years trying to accomplish such as womens and minorities rights are the very things these people attack.

There are plenty of wisecracks here but I wonder if the mood would be the same should one of these maniacs do to us what the did to a city not even 300 miles from Dublin...

kneemos

The army probably have an appropriate unit of some sort to deal with the attack.
As for intelligence,I presumed we relied on the UK and EU for any information on possible attacks.

TomBtheGoat

Disarm any attackers with our world famous charm and hospitality. Then once they are sufficiently inebriated, bate the shyte outta them. A cheap and inexpensive strategy.

darkpagandeath

I would be worried, Ireland's people are Europeans/westerners. International Airport connected to the USA.

Mr_Muffin

The Army (as little as they do) would fly stealth choppers to the location of the attack, glide down ropes and proceed to neutralise the threat.

Gatling

The army and several European special forces and police forces ran training exercises last year based around civilian targets here .
Power stations,ferry and airports were used in various operations .

Most people will say we wouldn't be ready I'd reckon after an initial incident it would be dealt with fairly quick

Special Circumstances

Gatling wrote: »

Most people will say we wouldn't be ready I'd reckon after an initial incident it would be dealt with fairly quick

Once the gsoc have given gardai written permission for actions beyond raising their voice a little bit...

WakeUp

in any potential situation my money would be on the wing. every single time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdg3aRYUabY

razorblunt

"Come to Glasgow, we'll set about ye".

That one man army did the trick for Scotland.
Anyone sign of the bad men, a sift kick in the balls, glib remark to the camera and the lads will be striking our names off the list of "nah can't be bothered going there again".

Boring username

I'd like to remind all the comedians and hilarious wags that an Irish woman was killed today in the Tunisian attacks. I don't get what's so funny about preparing for a potential terrorist attack, maybe someone can enlighten me? We've been lucky so far, maybe if a few more of you started asking serious questions about our defences instead of making smart remarks we can continue to be lucky.

baldbear

Around 40 Irish citizens are in Isis. If some came home the harm they could do would be terrible. Isis memberahip should mean jail time for these scum returning.

I would not trust the Irish authorities tracing these dirt bags.

fedor.2.

KomradeBishop wrote: »

We have a pretty good contingency plan: We haven't invaded any countries or dropped any bombs on them lately - you know, the things that are pissing people off and motivating them to engage in attacks - so we're grand.

Bless

Tabnabs

Having had some dealings in this area, we actually have a surprisingly good intelligence gathering and monitoring ability, and they take it very seriously.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Ring Britain.

Magico Gonzalez

Tunisia is a target for terrorists who want to establish a Sunni caliphate.

Ireland is not. Just like with the Romans, we're not on the radar.

These lunatics are attacking western targets to rid these countries of perceived western influences. Ireland is simply not on their radar.

France is attacked because of their colonial past, the whole Charlie Hebdo carry on and the perceived treatment of muslim's there.

We are low risk because we don't fall under any of these categories.

Son Of A Vidic

WakeUp wrote: »

in any potential situation my money would be on the wing. every single time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdg3aRYUabY

I don't think Irish people realise that the IRW rank amongst the worlds best & highly trained special forces units and are well respected by their colleagues across the globe.

efb

Ring David Cameron

Lux23

There is a major emergency group, they have practice runs every so often. I have seem them training, quite serious stuff.

http://www.emergencyplanning.ie/

darkpagandeath

Magico Gonzalez wrote: »

Tunisia is a target for terrorists who want to establish a Sunni caliphate.

Ireland is not. Just like with the Romans, we're not on the radar.

These lunatics are attacking western targets to rid these countries of perceived western influences. Ireland is simply not on their radar.

France is attacked because of their colonial past, the whole Charlie Hebdo carry on and the perceived treatment of muslim's there.

We are low risk because we don't fall under any of these categories.

one word Shannon.

Taxburden carrier

In line with government policy deny that any incident has occurred

Magico Gonzalez

darkpagandeath wrote: »

one word Shannon.

Fair point.

I suppose we rely on intelligence sharing from the UK re: threat level as well as our own intelligence.

Bongalongherb

KomradeBishop wrote: »

We have a pretty good contingency plan: We haven't invaded any countries or dropped any bombs on them lately - you know, the things that are pissing people off and motivating them to engage in attacks - so we're grand.

News just in... Barack Obama has said he will be sending 25,000 troops to the middle east to deal with terrorists. They will be landing in Shannon Airport on the 8th july 2015 to refuel...

We could quite possibly be in threat regarding this scenario.

CB19Kevo

KomradeBishop wrote: »

We have a pretty good contingency plan: We haven't invaded any countries or dropped any bombs on them lately - you know, the things that are pissing people off and motivating them to engage in attacks - so we're grand.

We are a western country with a inclusive society,That in itself makes us a target.Attacking a neutral country like Ireland in a rural location would send a message world wide that nowhere is safe.

I am sure there are some plans in place but the fact that our police force has been decimated and struggles to respond to daily needs means we are not in any way ready.Even with a doubling or tripling of police force,serious investment in intelligence we would still struggle to prevent a attack but at least there would be a rapid response.

fr336

Everyone likes the Irish

5starpool

Bongalongherb wrote: »

News just in... Barack Obama has said he will be sending 25,000 troops to the middle east to deal with terrorists. They will be landing in Shannon Airport on the 8th july 2015 to refuel...

We could quite possibly be in threat regarding this scenario.

If we worried about every little action we take setting off some irrational people to kill or maim in the name of some god or another, then we'll be worried a lot. There is not a zero risk to Ireland, but even despite evil things like "some people stopped at an airport here for a couple of hours" it's a much smaller risk than many other countries. Most of these atrocities are carried out in larger Western nations or Muslim countries themselves.

Nuke the whole of the middle east north/africa and be done with it. A nice measured response like that will show them

K.Flyer

darkpagandeath wrote: »

one word Shannon.

Also our "close" relationships with America and Britain.
I cannot believe some people's naivety that Ireland should be immune to one of these attacks.
ISIS are totally against Everything that is not part of their doctrine and are willing to inflict terror and death upon all "non believers".
Just because we haven't dropped any bombs on their countries, we as a predominantly Christian nation, are, in their mindset, a potential legitimate target.

circadian

I was under the impression that Irish intelligence services on the whole were quite good, not to mention the army and IRW being considered some of the best in the world.

This combined with a lower likelihood of an attack (not no chance of an attack) would seem to me that Ireland is in a safer spot than many other European countries.

darkpagandeath

K.Flyer wrote: »

Also our "close" relationships with America and Britain.
I cannot believe some people's naivety that Ireland should be immune to one of these attacks.
ISIS are totally against Everything that is not part of their doctrine and are willing to inflict terror and death upon all "non believers".
Just because we haven't dropped any bombs on their countries, we as a predominantly Christian nation, are, in their mindset, a potential legitimate target.

I never get the delusional, Sure we never hurt anyone crack. People seem to think these guys are Rational. Breaking news people they religious zealot nut jobs.

fiachr_a

We don't even have a contingency plan for 1cm of snow.

Magico Gonzalez

K.Flyer wrote: »

we as a predominantly Christian nation, are, in their mindset, a potential legitimate target.

This is nonsense.

The Shannon link has some credibility.

They want to establish a Sunni caliphate, they are not declaring war on every non-muslim country. They don't have the scope to do so. They are entangled in sectarian attacks and anti-western attacks in their geography. France is a case apart right now due to the Hebdo stuff and the large home grown Muslim population.

I didn't consider Shannon before, and to be fair it should be something we are concerned about.

That said, I believe most attacks outside of their intended caliphate are carried out by home growns. I don't believe we have a big enough radical community for that to happen right now.

kneemos

I'd be more worried about getting struck by lightening than a terrorist attack in Ireland,or abroad for that matter.

Magico Gonzalez

darkpagandeath wrote: »

I never get the delusional, Sure we never hurt anyone crack. People seem to think these guys are Rational. Breaking news people they religious zealot nut jobs.

To do what they do requires planning and targeting, they do that on the basis of having the capacity to launch attacks. They don't turn up on a blame, blow something up and head home.

We don't have enough of a home grown network to be a serious target. France suffer more in that respect given their colonial past in the region. Uk too, obviously.

I would say our biggest risk is UK based insurgents putting 2&2 together re Shannon and relocating here. You'd hope we're monitoring that movement with the UK.

darkpagandeath

Magico Gonzalez wrote: »

This is nonsense.

The Shannon link has some credibility.

They want to establish a Sunni caliphate, they are not declaring war on every non-muslim country. They don't have the scope to do so. They are entangled in sectarian attacks and anti-western attacks in their geography. France is a case apart right now due to the Hebdo stuff and the large home grown Muslim population.

I didn't consider Shannon before, and to be fair it should be something we are concerned about.

That said, I believe most attacks outside of their intended caliphate are carried out by home growns. I don't believe we have a big enough radical community for that to happen right now.

We have plenty of people here. Ones threatening to use blasphemy laws and alike. Ones protesting in segregation. People would be fools to think a certain section have integrated. Have ones with ties to other groups in the middle east, ones in jail.

Magico Gonzalez

darkpagandeath wrote: »

We have plenty of people here. Ones threatening to use blasphemy laws and alike. Ones protesting in segregation. People would be fools to think a certain section have integrated. Have ones with ties to other groups in the middle east, ones in jail.

Sorry, I disagree and I don't believe there is any evidence beyond the anecdotal.

Bongalongherb

5starpool wrote: »

If we worried about every little action we take setting off some irrational people to kill or maim in the name of some god or another, then we'll be worried a lot. There is not a zero risk to Ireland, but even despite evil things like "some people stopped at an airport here for a couple of hours" it's a much smaller risk than many other countries. Most of these atrocities are carried out in larger Western nations or Muslim countries themselves.

Nuke the whole of the middle east north/africa and be done with it. A nice measured response like that will show them

But doesn't it make a mockery of the thinking that Ireland is a neutral country.

darkpagandeath

Bongalongherb wrote: »

But doesn't it make a mockery of the thinking that Ireland is a neutral country.

Ireland is not and never has been a Neutral country.

Mightydrumming

To be fair, it brings the whole 'russian bombers' incident back into perspective. We had to be informed by the UK that the jets were bordering along the coast!

Coveney says he great plans to implement new radar systems etc etc... But apple's don't fall far the tree.

I believe if there were to be an act of terrorism here in the emerald isle, the UK would step in and deal with the situation(s).