Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has expressed her regret and anger that people in her party ended up “in proximity” to a man arrested as part of an investigation into an alleged plot by an extreme far-right group to attack Galway Mosque.
Last week it emerged the home of a Sinn Féin party member had been searched by investigating gardaí, and the member’s partner was later arrested.
Sinn Féin expelled the member after it learned her house had been searched as part of the investigation into the far-right group and she had failed to notify the party.
The cross-Border antiterrorism investigation began in early November.
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Gardaí seized items – allegedly related to explosive devices – in a car in Co Laois on November 4th.
Similar items, and a number of incendiary-type devices, were found the next day at a property in Co Down, when it was searched by the Police Service of Northern Ireland after a request from the garda.
Two men have appeared before the courts and are charged with explosives offences relating to their alleged role in the conspiracy under investigation and the items seized.
They were detained late on Tuesday, November 4th, in Portlaoise and appeared in court the following Friday.
As part of the garda investigation a number of searches were carried out.
One of the properties searched was the home of the Sinn Féin party member and her partner.
Last Wednesday a man – the Sinn Féin member’s partner – was arrested for questioning in the midlands as part of the investigation.
He was detained under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act at a Garda station in the midlands as the inquiry, led by the Special Detective Unit, continued. Last Thursday evening the man was released without charge.
It emerged last week that the now-expelled Sinn Féin member and her partner were previously signed into Leinster House on two occasions.
They were signed in on July 16th by Senator Maria McCormack for a Dáil healthcare debate, the party said.
The next day a staff member in Ms McCormack’s office signed them in, at her request, on the day of a housing protest outside the Dáil, it said.
It is understood the arrested man also took part in a Sinn Féin event in April commemorating the 1981 IRA hunger strike.
The man was also previously photographed with Ms McDonald.
During a press conference on Monday, Ms McDonald was asked about the matter and said: “Obviously, I regret that this person was anywhere in proximity to any of us if it turns out that the concerns around this person turn out to be true.”
She added that for more than two years Sinn Féin has been subjected to an “an orchestrated campaign online and in person, we’ve been threatened”.
She continued: “I’ve been threatened by so-called far right elements, so the idea that an individual with any connection whatsoever with that position, with that level of hatred and antagonism and viciousness towards other human beings and towards Sinn Féin that they were anywhere close to any of us is a cause of deep anger to me actually.”
On being pictured with the man she said: “I’ve been pictured with probably tens of thousands of people at this stage, I would imagine, and he was one of them. That goes with this life.”
