A major review of security at strategically important State buildings is to be carried out for the Garda Commissioner after a man used a van to ram the gates of Áras an Uachtaráin before driving 7km across Dublin city and similarly targeting the Department of Housing and Government Buildings.
The suspect had posted on social media in the hours before the incidents that he believed a Garda member was about to be killed, his intent to kill another unnamed person and a veiled threat to President Michael D Higgins.
He is suspected of crashing into the Department of Housing at Custom House Quay, which appears to have happened as he was travelling from Áras an Uachtaráin in the Phoenix Park towards Government Buildings on Merrion Street Upper.
Garda sources said there was concern about the fact the suspect was not spotted and stopped after the first incident and that he was able to drive into three different sets of gates at Government Buildings in Dublin 2 without being halted.
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The man took photographs clearly depicting his Ford Transit van, with the airbag activated, having crashed into the gates of the Department of An Taoiseach and posted them on social media. It was only after these posts, which went online at about 2.30am, that he was arrested.
The suspect, aged in his 40s, was initially detained on suspicion of intoxicated driving but was later rearrested for questioning about the criminal damage incidents. Some of the man’s recent social media content featured posts of religious iconography, references to smoking cannabis and to having difficulties securing social welfare after working for 20 years before being “pushed out”.
Sinn Féin’s spokesman for justice, Pa Daly, said it was “hard to understand” how someone was able to carry out several attacks across Dublin before being apprehended. He said the party would raise the issue at its next meeting with senior gardaí.
While the Garda has ruled out any terror-related motive, and sources pointed out the suspect appeared to make no effort to enter the buildings, the distance he travelled and the number of crimes he was able to commit before his arrest was of concern.
A report on the incidents was being drawn up on Friday for Garda Commissioner Drew Harris. Sources said the incidents were likely to result in improvements to security at a range of State buildings. This could include more secure physical infrastructure, increasing the number of gardaí deployed at such sites and the nature of the response they can rapidly provide.
Some Garda members said the three incidents at Government Buildings exposed an apparent security weakness in that the Garda resources that should have stopped him sooner at such a high-profile building were not available. This was of particular concern in the current climate when far-right rhetoric may motivate other attackers intent on striking out against the State or individual politicians, they said. However, gardaí have found no far-right link to this series of incidents.
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