30 Irish citizens left to fight in Syria and Iraq
An estimated 30 Irish citizens had travelled to fight in Syria and Iraq by the end of last month — up 15% on last year.
The figures — compiled by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation — show the number is up on December 2013, when 26 citizens left.
The ICSR — an independent London-based organisation — said that across 14 affected EU countries the number of foreign fighters had doubled, from 1,929 in December 2013 to 3,950 in December 2014.
The news comes as Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald called for the “urgent” introduction of an EU database containing passenger details of air travellers.
In response to the terror attacks in France, EU governments are pushing to revive proposals which stalled at the European Parliament in 2011 authorising the creation of such a system.
The figures released by ICSR show that the biggest number of foreign fighters are coming from France — jumping from 412 in December 2013 to 1,200 in 2014. The next largest numbers are from Germany (up from 240 to 600) and Britain (366 to 600).
In terms of the proportion of the population, the countries with the greatest number of foreign fighters are Belgium (39 per 1m people), Denmark (27), Sweden (19), and France (18).
Ireland has a rate of 6.5, the third lowest of the 14 countries studied.
Speaking at an EU summit of justice and home affairs ministers in Riga, Latvia, Ms Fitzgerald called for a “concerted, comprehensive and sustained” response to radicalisation and the threat posed by the return of foreign fighters.
She said some estimates put the number of foreign fighters as high as 5,000 EU citizens.
“The recent terrorist attacks in Paris are a particularly shocking manifestation of what is the greatest security threat facing the union today. This threat is evolving in new and disturbing ways.”
She said law enforcement and intelligence agencies had to have the full suite of tools necessary to address the threat of international terrorism.
In particular, Ms Fitzgerald cited the urgent need for an EU-wide database of Passenger Name Record data as a means of tracking the travel arrangements of suspected terrorists.
IRISH EXAMINER