Ireland’s first Islamist-inspired knife attack raises urgent questions about extremist threats

Ireland faces a reckoning on youth radicalisation, after a brutal knife attack exposes gaps in counter-terror strategy

Fr Paul Murphy leaves the Criminal Courts of Justice on Tuesday. Picture: Collins Courts

Even with the sentencing this week of a juvenile for an Islamist-motivated attack, Garda inquiries in the case are still not finished.

While the court heard about jihadist material that the now 17-year-old had consumed online and downloaded on his digital devices, one piece of the jigsaw in explaining why he carried out such a horrific attack remains missing.