‘State has key role in digital war on terror’

Ireland has a key role to play in the digital war against terror, the French minister for European affairs said last night.

Harlem Désir was speaking during an official visit to Ireland — a trip he was forced to postpone in January after the attack on the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo.

Mr Désir and his Irish counterpart Dara Murphy said Ireland, as home to several global internet and social media companies, has vast experience dealing with such firms.

This experience can help the EU develop an online res-ponse to global terror groups like Islamic State and Boko Haram, they said.

Citing recent terrorist attacks in Copenhagen, Madrid, London, Canada, and Australia, and the foiled attack in Belgium, Mr Désir said: “The threat is international. We need international co-operation.”

As the European community develops its digital economy and drafts EU-wide legislation to replace national online laws, Mr Désir said part of the response should include rules governing online content which creates a security risk. “We have to confront it strongly,” he said.

“You have to balance freedom of expression — the internet is a place of freedom and it has to remain — with the fact that you fight against online apologies for crime, terrorism, racism, fanaticism, anti-semitism.”

He said there has been progress in relation to child pornography where internet companies have agreed to suppress some content and websites. “We have to build the same regulation with the sites which promote terrorism,” he said.

“The internet is one of the fields of this battle — we have to develop the contra narrative, to develop information on the reality of what these groups are doing.

“We must try to stop the diffusion of their propaganda and say that it is the responsibility of Facebook and Twitter — for all these big internet companies — they cannot say it is not our problem.”

Both men said the EU must also address the Passenger Name Records (PNR) issue as part of counter-terrorism measures.

The legislation aims to facilitate the pooling of data about air passengers between EU member states.

The Oireachtas approved Ireland’s participation in the initiative in April 2011 but it has been stalled in the European legislative process amid data privacy concerns, with Sinn Féin’s three MEPs among those objecting to it in its current form.

Mr Murphy said addressing this issue is a priority for Europe. “It is disappointing that Ireland shares PNR data with the US, Canada, and with Australia, but doesn’t share passenger name records internally with Europe,” he said.

“The events in Paris really brought to our attention how important it is that our justice systems have the tools they need to fight terrorism.”

Speaking in Cork, Mr Désir thanked the people of Ireland for their expressions of solidarity after the Paris attacks.

During his two-day visit, Mr Désir met researchers at University College Cork who are working with French colleagues on cutting-edge marine energy projects. Plans for a €1bn electricity inter-connector between France and Ireland for the sharing of renewable power across the EU were also discussed.

Mr Désir drove a French- made electric car, the Renault Zoe, being used as part of Cork’s Drive4Zero initiative

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