Fitzgerald welcomes European anti-terror directive

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has welcomed a new European anti-terrorism directive at a meeting with EU justice and home affairs ministers in Brussels.

Ms Fitzgerald discussed security, counter-terrorism and migration with colleagues across Europe at the summit on Friday.

She welcomed the agreement reached last week with the European Parliament on the new Counter-Terrorism Directive.

Ms Fitzgerald said: “International cooperation is indispensable in countering the threat of terrorism which transcends national boundaries. Exchanging information and intelligence on terrorists strengthens our national authorities.

“This new Directive will criminalise more terrorist offences, extend the scope of existing law, and reinforce the overall EU approach on counter-terrorism.

“It will complement the Passenger Name Record Directive adopted earlier in 2016, to facilitate tracking and early identification of terrorists. We will protect our citizens against terrorism by protecting our borders against terrorists.”

Ministers also discussed ways to co-ordinate and strengthen responses by relevant authorities at national and cross-border level. Discussions focused on sharing lessons learnt and improving techniques to strengthen mechanisms designed to respond to attacks.

Ms Fitzgerald said: “The attacks in recent years have made us very aware that we have to always be prepared both at a national and at Union level. It is vital to learn from each other and to have flexible and responsive planning to be able to react immediately to any emergency threat. The Council meeting included a demonstration by emergency services from a number of member states which specialise in dealing with terrorist threats and managing the consequences of an attack.”