New bill creates 3 extra terrorism offences

Radicals who incite others to commit acts of terror or who recruit or train people for terrorism face up to 10 years in prison under new proposals.

The Irish laws implement an EU directive aimed at combating international terrorism, one of a number of directives brought in following the September 11 attacks in the US in 2001 by al Qaeda.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said there could be “no hiding place” for those who encourage, recruit or train others to carry out acts of terrorism.

The Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Amendment Bill 2014, published yesterday, creates three new offences:

-Public provocation to commit a terrorist offence;

-Recruitment for terrorism;

-Training for terrorism.

The offences carry sentences of up to 10 years in prison on conviction or on indictment in the higher courts.

“The publication of this bill is an important milestone towards the enactment of this legislation and the transposition of the EU framework decision on combating terrorism,” said Ms Fitzgerald yesterday.

“It also lays the groundwork for Ireland’s ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism in due course.

“We stand with our European colleagues in doing everything in our power to ensure that there are no gaps in our law that can be exploited by those who would inflict terror and mayhem on innocent people at home or abroad. There can be no hiding place in democratic society for those who encourage, recruit or train others to carry out acts of terrorism and we must never relent in our determination to use all resources at our disposal to root them out.”

Public provocation happens when a person distributes, by any means of communication, a message with the intention of encouraging a terrorist act.

The training offence relates to instruction in the skills of making or using firearms or explosives as well as nuclear material or biological or chemical weapons.

The EU Council Framework Decision was agreed in November 2008 and was supposed to have been implemented in all member states by December 2010.

The publication of the bill yesterday comes against the background of significant concerns across the continent, including in Ireland, of European citizens travelling to fight with Islamist groups in Syria and Iraq.

European leaders are worried about the ideological and militaristic effects on those travelling to fight in the Middle East and previously in north Africa and the possible security threat they pose when they return home.

Last June, official figures were released which suggested that 30 to 40 Irish people were fighting in Iraq and Syria and that at least four citizens have died in Syria. The EU estimates some 2,000 citizens are fighting in the Middle East.

The laws can also be applied to domestic terrorism — namely dissident republicans — if deemed necessary or useful by the gardaí.