The chief representative of the Islamic faith in Ireland, Sheikh Hussein Halawa, has pledged to personally arrest or report al-Qaeda supporters or Islamic extremists to the authorities here.
While British prime minister Tony Blair has called on the British Muslim community to work with his government to root out Islamic terrorist sympathisers, Sheikh Halawa - imam of the Islamic Cultural Centre in Dublin - said he did not know of any such sympathisers in Ireland.
But, speaking through an interpreter, he acknowledged that within the 25,000-strong Irish Muslim community, people who hold such views "would not come to the Islamic centre".
"They know that the Islamic centre does not promote this," he said. "I can't tell what's in people's brains, but I can say that I don't know anybody who might be attached to al-Qaeda."
The London bombings were "anti-Islamic" and an "atrocity", he said. He would be willing "not only to report (a supporter of such bombings) to the authorities, but if I can I will arrest him and take him to the authorities . . . Because this is against Islam, and bombing outside the Islamic centre is just like bombing inside the centre."
Sheikh Halawa's comments, in an interview with The Irish Times, come after it emerged that the suspects in last July's London bombings may have been independent groups of radicalised young Islamic men living and working in Britain.
Last month, a video shown on Arab television claimed fighters from Ireland had joined al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, taking part in an attack on a US helicopter which left 16 US troops dead.
Sheikh Halawa said he believed the extent of al-Qaeda's influence had been magnified by the media.
But he said if he heard someone advancing extremist views, he would challenge these views to show that they are not right.
He has never had to do this, he added.
Sheikh Halawa said he believed members of the Muslim community had integrated well in Irish society.
This was for a number of reasons, including Irish people's welcoming nature, and the fact that people in some countries might be more "fanatical" and less welcoming than the Irish.
Muslims come to Ireland to work or study, with some also marrying Irish women and settling here, he said.
They also sometimes arrive here as refugees. But he said he had "never seen" any act of racism in Ireland.
On the issue of the wearing of the Muslim veil, or hijab, by young Muslim girls in Irish schools, Sheikh Halawa said he had not encountered any problems with schools trying to ban their use.
In countries such as France, authorities had "misunderstood" the hijab, thinking it was a religious symbol. In fact, it is not a symbol but an Islamic obligation, he said.