Ireland under pressure to take a stand on Muslim Brotherhood

Spreading influence of underground organisation seen among 100,000-strong Muslim community

Irish Senator Sharon Keogan says the presence of the Muslim Brotherhood in the republic needs to be investigated. Photo: Houses of the Oireachtas

Irish officials are under pressure to investigate claims of interference by the Muslim Brotherhood in the republic's mosques and Islamic centres.

Leading members of parliament have pressed the government to launch an investigation into how the global movement has sought to take up a representative role for Ireland's 100,000-strong Muslim population.

Independent senator Sharon Keogan told a session of parliament that the footprint of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is banned across its home region, has spread, something that has not been addressed by the Irish government.

The senator referred to a protracted dispute that has played out in Ireland's courts and on the airways over the voluntary closure of a mosque in one of Dublin's most prosperous districts.

A dispute over the control Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland at Clonskeagh, in the south of the capital, spun out of control when a crowd confronted the mosque management in April.

Legal proceedings to wrest control of the mosque following the closure have reached the High Court but judges have pushed the petitioners to mediation. A hearing this month called for more submissions to prepare the case.

The new board at the centre said it was inquiring into the running of the Quranic school and the decision to temporarily close the doors is being challenged by the long-serving imam.

Ms Keogan believes the impasse has deeper roots and called on the executive to form a better understanding of what is a relatively new community dynamic in Ireland.

We face the serious danger that our Government has allowed this ideological network to flourish unchecked

Senator Sharon Keogan

This was no management dispute as has been reported but a deeper layered struggle. “The Irish Muslim Peace and Integration Council has raised concerns about Brotherhood ties at Clonskeagh,” she said. “Let me be clear that this is not about religion. This is about transparency, governance and the ideological influence of a movement that has been banned in many eastern countries, most recently Jordan where it was outlawed following a sabotage plot.”

The independent member of the Irish upper house pointed to the European situation, where countries such as France and most recently Italy have moved to curb Muslim Brotherhood activities.

“Across Europe it is heavily restricted and monitored, yet here in Ireland we face the serious danger that our government has allowed this ideological network to flourish unchecked,” she said.

Irish Muslims perform Eid prayers on Dublin's Croke Park pitch

Discussions on proscribing or even restricting the Brotherhood were needed but could not happen if public representatives were “flying blind”.

“I therefore call on the government and the Minister for Justice to initiate a full investigation into the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in Ireland. We cannot afford to be naive. The safety, cohesion and even the sovereignty of our republic depends on it.”

Ireland's technology-dominated economy has proved attractive for affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood over the past decade.

In 2019, The National exposed how the Dublin-based European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) had launched the EuroFatwa app to target people across the bloc.

The ECFR, which was founded by the late Brotherhood ideologue Yusuf Al Qaradawi, created the portal before Ramadan that year and promoted it as a guide for Muslims based in Europe.