All EU member states are at continued high risk of an al-Qaeda terrorist strike and none, including Ireland, should consider itself a safe haven immune from such attacks, the EU's new EU Counter Terrorism Co-ordinator has said.
Speaking in Dublin yesterday, Mr Gijs De Vries said al-Qaeda would target whatever locations it saw fit. The size of nations or whether they had participated in the war in Iraq would not necessarily be a factor for al-Qaeda when choosing a target.
The Government has consistently said the risk of a terrorist attack here is low. "The risk of new and major attacks in Europe, as we all know, remains high," said Mr de Vries. "No EU country can consider itself immune to this threat. We are all vulnerable.
"I don't think that anyone can say with any degree of certainty whether this or that particular country, in terms of size, offers a more attractive target.
"It very much depends on a great variety of factors to do with the situation in the country itself. We should not be under any illusion that the threat has dissipated. It has not."
Speaking after a meeting of COSAC, a conference of community and European affairs committees from all 25 EU states, at Dublin Castle, Mr De Vries said the threat from al-Qaeda underlined the need for close co-operation between EU states and between the region and the US.
