Irish back door for terrorists - We must face our security obligations

IRELAND has, for decades, been one of the back doors into Europe for drug smugglers and, latterly, people traffickers.

Our national security measures, our commitment to preserving the integrity of our borders, is, like that of many other small countries, less than it might be. We have a laissez-faire, irrational hope that the world’s extremists, criminal or religious, will pass us by. How wrong and dangerous that wishful thinking has proved.

The confirmation that Rachid Redouane, one of the three terrorists shot dead by British police, during Saturday night’s attack in London, was carrying an Irish identity card and that he had lived in Rathmines in south Dublin, means we can no longer pretend that we are not involved.