GARDAÍ HAVE CRITICISED an Irish website which published details of the wrong man accused of the Parnell Square attack.
An Garda Síochana has now put in place safety measures for the man who was wrongly connected with the attack in order to keep him safe.
In a statement, gardaí said the article on the Gript website about the attacker was “highly inaccurate” and said they were never contacted before the publication of the story. The article was widely shared on social media after its publication on Wednesday night.
The article did not name the man, instead going into detail about his immigration status in Ireland over the past two decades and describing him as “the primary suspect” in the Parnell Square attack.
However, An Garda Siochána have confirmed to The Journal that the story does not have anything to do with the chief suspect in the garda investigation into last week’s attack.
In its statement the Garda Press Office said: “The individual referenced in the article is not a person of interest in the investigation into the knife attack of last Thursday.
“An Garda Síochána has contacted the online news outlet and the outlet has agreed to remove the article.”
The article is no longer available on the website and the original URL to it now leads to a separate statement by the publication, published late this morning, which claimed it had corroborated its information with an unnamed senior garda.
The Garda Press Office however said: “The online news outlet did not contact the Garda Press Office before publication.” It added: “An Garda Síochána is aware of some social media posts resulting from the article that purport to identify the individual and has put in place measures to ensure the safety of the individual.”
In a statement, Gript editor John McGuirk claimed that the website had sourced its information from a garda and then cross-checked the name of the man with a senior official from the Department of Justice.
“We are investigating the circumstances of this error,” the statement says.
Gript, which began publishing in 2019, is a website which covers Irish and international issues. It shares a company address with anti-abortion group The Life Institute, with whom one of its directors is also involved, and is partly funded by donations from supporters. On its home page the site is described as “providing news & analysis without the liberal filter”.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said that it was ‘appropriate’ that the article was taken down.
Speaking to reporters today, she noted that there has been “a lot of misinformation spread since last Thursday on a lot of different matters that can be hugely disruptive to investigations, but also can be hugely upsetting to many people”.
“So I would ask people to think before they send on information, particularly where information is shared that might be part of an investigation.”
The misidentified man was not named in the article, which was published at around 5pm on Wednesday. Within hours, his name was circulating widely on social media. One post by a far-right activist who identified the man was seen almost 60,000 times and liked almost 2,000 times before it was deleted today.
The main suspect in the case, a naturalised Irish citizen originally from Algeria, remains in hospital following the stabbing attack at a school in Dublin’s city centre last Thursday in which three children and a creche worker were injured.
One of the children, a 5-year-old girl, is in a gravely critical condition in hospital, while the creche worker is in a serious condition. The attack prompted a riot and looting in Dublin city centre last Thursday.
A large amount of misinformation has been shared on social media and messaging apps about the condition of the 5-year-old girl who remains in hospital after the attack, including suggestions that the State has colluded to keep details of her condition secret. There is no evidence to back up these claims. The girl’s condition has repeatedly been described as ‘critical’ since the attack.
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