A spokesman for the Irish Council of Imams has cast doubt on assertions that Islamist terrorist groups had units in the Republic delivering financial and logistic support to foreign cells.
Mr Ali Salem, general secretary of the Irish Council of Imams, told ireland.comtoday he was unaware that these groups were ever a feature of the Muslim community in Ireland and that he had "never met anyone, or heard about anyone, who is a member of these groups".
He said the allegation could cause confusion among people unfamiliar with the Muslim community in Ireland.
Mr Salem also said he believed that the war in Iraq was waged on the basis of incorrect intelligence on weapons of mass destruction.
"That intelligence is now accepted as wrong, but it caused a war, which has been going on now for three years, leading to the killing of 650,000 people," Mr Salem said.
"It is possible that these statements [on terrorist units] are equally flawed."
This morning's Irish Timesreported that, according to declassified official US papers, up to six Islamist terrorist groups had units in the Republic three years ago to deliver financial and logistic support to other cells abroad.
The documents, detailing contacts between the US embassy in Dublin and Washington-based agencies, were released to RTÉ under the US Freedom of Information Act.
Asked if any "foreign terrorist groups" had a presence in Ireland, the embassy named the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Al-Gama'at al-Islamiyah, the Algerian Armed Islamic Group, al-Qaeda, and "possibly Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad".
Speaking in the Dail this afternoon Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said there was a "very small number of people" in the State being monitored for activities related to Islamic terrorist groups.
Responding to questions from the Opposition he said the suggestion that there was six active cells working in Ireland was misleading.
"When you look at the full text you'd think it was six active cells," he said.
"When you read down the print you see that they're people who control operational support, logistical and financial…. is really what they're talking about.
"Thankfully they are very small in number. I wouldn't like it to be in any way associated with the Islamic community here, which has been very responsive and cooperative."