Paris attacks: ‘small number’ being monitored in Ireland

A "small number" of people are being monitored by security forces in Ireland in the wake of the Paris attacks, Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan said on Monday.

He warned that Ireland “does not have any special exemption” from the terrorist events that took place in Paris over the weekend.

Speaking on his way into a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels this morning, Mr Flanagan said that there were “a small number of people in Ireland whose behaviour and activities are being monitored and are continuing to be monitored.”

"Ireland doesn't have any special exemption as far as these matters are concerned. However, we understand the threat to be very low. We are vigilant. We are engaging with our European partners in intelligence gathering. Our Garda Síochána are very active."

Asked if those under surveillance were in the Dublin area, Mr Flanagan declined to go into detail.

“For operational reasons it would be unwise of me to go into detail, but there are a small number which have given rise to concern and whose activities are being monitored fully by an Garda Síochána. I can’t go into details on the matter of numbers.”

In a statement on Monday afternoon, an Garda Síochána said it had been “in close contact with our French and other close security partners to assess any implications for Ireland flowing from these events”.

It said there was a garda liaison officer attached to the Irish embassy in Paris who has direct contact with the French authorities.

“ Since these events, an Garda Síochána has conducted an intelligence assessment review and on Saturday the Commissioner briefed the National Security Committee and the Minister for Justice and Equality of our threat assessment,” it said.

“As indicated by the Minister for Justice and Equality yesterday, the threat level in this jurisdiction remains unchanged and the threat environment in this jurisdiction at the moment can be described as one where ‘an attack is possible but not likely.’”

It said the level of threat would be “kept under constant review” and that all appropriate measures would be taken in dealing with them.

It said, however, that for security reasons it was not appropriate to go into detail on operational responses.

Mr Flanagan had been due to travel directly to Belfast this morning after the collapse of peace talks on Friday, but the terrorist attacks in Paris prompted the Minister to attend the scheduled EU foreign ministers’ meeting instead in Brussels.

Hewill fly to Belfast from Brussels this afternoon for talks, after the latest round of talks ended without agreement on Friday evening. Mr Flanagan said he had spoken to Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers over the weekend and was confident a deal could still be done in the next few days.

“We’re now in week ten of what was to be a sharp and short focus. I believe it is important this week that all the parties engage now as we reach the end line,” he said, adding that there was a “political will” for a comprehensive agreement.

Mr Flanagan said the purpose of today's EU foreign affairs meeting was to consider how the European Union should best responds to the events that he described as "an act of barbarism."

“This was an attack on the very fabric of our democracy. It cannot be tolerated.”

EU foreign ministers are gathering in Brussels less than three days after a team of three terrorist groups instigated attacks in the French capital claiming the lives of at least 132 people.

With the police investigation focusing on Brussels as a key hub for the attacks that took place on Friday, security has been increased in the Belgian capital, with mounted police and heavily armed soldiers patrolling the area around the European Commission and Council this morning. At least seven people are being questioned by police following raids in the district of Molenbeek, located seven metro stops west of the EU quarter.

A man hunt is underway for Brussels-born Abdeslam Salah, one of three brothers suspected to have been involved in Friday night's terrorist attacks.

Links between French and Belgian jihadist groups have been revealed before. The Frenchman who is believed to have carried out shootings in the Jewish Museum in Brussels in June 2014 lived in the Molenbeek area, as did the heavily-armed attacker who boarded a packed Amsterdam-Paris train in Brussels and began shooting before being overpowered by passengers.

With EU foreign ministers already scheduled to discuss the situation in Syria at today's meeting, focus is likely to be on the fallout from the Paris shootings.

Speaking on her way into the meeting, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said that she would update ministers on Friday's peace talks in Vienna, at which the establishment of a contact group led by the United Nations Special Envoy to Syria was agreed.

“Our daily work, of all the foreign ministers is already centred on fighting Daesh with all possible means,” noting that democracy, freedom and the right to live life in peace needed to be protected.

With reports that the Belgian suspect who is being sought by police was detained by police on the French-Belgian border after the attacks but then let go, the EU’s common travel area has come under renewed focus.

Speaking at the G20 summit in Turkey, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker warned against a "base reaction" to Friday' night's terrorist attacks in Paris, insisting that European Union asylum policy should not be changed.

"We should not mix the different categories of people coming to Europe. The one responsible for the attacks in Paris... he is a criminal and not a refugee and not an asylum seeker," Mr Juncker said on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Turkey.

“I would invite those in Europe who try to change the migration agenda we have adopted - I would like to remind them to be serious about this and not to give in to these basic reactions that I do not like... I see the difficulty but I don’t see the need to change our general approach.”