Paris attack reminder of ‘violent fundamentalism’ in Europe

The fatal attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo is a reminder that "violent fundamentalism" is a big issue in Europe, said Minister for Defence Simon Coveney.

He said many of the values people cherished had to be fought for and that Irish and European authorities had to make sure they were “doing everything . . . to ensure that type of atrocity does not happen here”.

"It is shocking and a reminder violent fundamentalism is a big issue in Europe. It is not just confined to other parts of the world like the Middle East and Africa and indeed Asia, " he said to reporters during a visit to the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in Dublin.

“This is very much an issue Europe has to face and deal with in terms of defence and security capacity but also in terms of ensuring that communities with real diversity can live together without extremism trying to intimidate a change that is and would be totally unwelcome in terms of shutting down free speech.”

Mr Coveney said people in Ireland and France took the freedom of the press for granted and that he, as Minister for Defence, had an obligation to protect and defend that way of life.

“They don’t always like what journalists say but absolutely accept their right to say it and write about it and draw pictures about it and take photographs that back up those stories.”

Asked if vigilance for a potential attack in Ireland had been increased after the incident in Paris, he replied that “we are vigilant all of the time in terms of assessing threats to Ireland” such as terrorism or cyber crime.

The Constitutional Convention last year recommended that the offence of blasphemy be removed from the Constitution but a referendum on the issue has not yet been scheduled .

Mr Coveney said he thought “having blasphemy in the Constitution is inappropriate and I think that needs to change at some stage in the future but it is quite a complex process”. He said Ireland needed to sell itself as a modern state that welcomes diversity and difference.

Tánaiste Joan Burton described the attack on Charlie Hebdo as abhorrent and an atrocity. She said it was very sad to see journalists “butchered in this way”.

"I think anything which concerns the freedom of the press and indeed, in this case, the life of the press, to be of very serious concern to everybody in the European Union, " she said.

“I just want to express my solidarity with, particularly, the people in the media community in France but also people in France in general.”

Ms Burton said France had a long tradition of separating "religious matters and state matters" and that the issues of personal freedom and liberty were very important.

She understood that those responsible had “some allegiance to some extreme form of Islam” but said statements made by Muslims around the world showed that the vast majority of the community did not condone such behaviour.

Asked if Irish publications should refrain from publishing similar cartoons, the Tánaiste replied that Ireland had a free press which was “one of the cornerstones of our democracy” and “I’m not going to tell the press how to do its business”.