Nóirín O’Sullivan: London link found within two hours by gardaí

Gardaí were able to establish within two hours of the London terror attacks links to Ireland and identify one of the three suspected attackers, the garda commissioner has said.

In a strong defence of the force’s response, Nóirín O’Sullivan said An Garda Síochána took national security “very seriously” and had secured numerous arrests and deportations in other operations involving jihadi terrorism.

Deputy commissioner for operations and security, John Twomey, said that a paper exercise last Sunday night showed that nine specialist armed units would have been able to respond to a terrorist incident in Dublin city centre within the eight-minute time-frame it took British police last Saturday.