The European Union’s law enforcement agency, Europol, has officially recorded Ireland’s first confirmed jihadist attack – the attempted murder of Defence Forces chaplain Fr Paul Murphy at Renmore Barracks in Co. Galway last August.
The attack is listed in the EU’s annual Terrorism Situation and Trend Report as one of the 58 terrorist attacks reported by 14 EU Member States in 2024.
Of these, 34 were completed, 5 were failed and 19 were foiled.
Of the 58 attacks, the report attributes 24 to jihadist terrorism, which marked an increase of 10, compared to the 14 reported the previous year.
Another 21 attacks were attributed to “left-wing” and “anarchist” terrorism and eight attacks were categorised as “other” or “not specified” form of terrorism.
There were four separatist attacks and one right-wing terrorist attack reported, all of which were completed.
“Jihadist terrorism remained the most lethal, resulting in five victims killed and 18 injured,” across the continent, according to Europol, which reports that 289 people were arrested for jihadist terrorism-related offences, making up the vast majority of arrests related to terrorism offences.
This was followed by arrests related to right-wing terrorism (47), left-wing and anarchist terrorism (28) and ethno-nationalist and separatist terrorism (27), with a futher 58 arrests made for terrorist offences related to other or not specified forms of terrorism in 10 member states.
There were 449 people in total arrested for terrorism-related offences across 20 member states in 2024.
The report highlights the ongoing influence of the conflict in Gaza on the level of terror threat in Europe, saying that there were “numerous attacks and calls to violence across the entire ideological spectrum”.
“Online terrorist and violent extremist propaganda instrumentalised the conflict and ignited hatred, with anti-Semitism being a common denominator in both. The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine was another driving factor for the spread of violent extremist narratives, radicalisation and mobilisation,” it reads.
The instrumentalisation and radicalisation of young people and minors is another prominent theme throughout the report, which says that those experiencing “mental health problems, social isolation and digital dependency” were particularly vulnerable to radicalising influences.
Europol stated that almost one in every three suspects arrested for terrorism-related offences in 2024 was a minor or a young adult.
The youngest offender was 12 years old, and was arrested for planning to commit an attack.
The EU police agency recently raised alarm about the use of minors in “violence as a service” attacks, as part of which social media is used to advertise and coordinate shootings-for-hire:
“The information was published in a press release by Europol this week, which announced that seven suspects aged between 14 and 26 had either been arrested or had surrendered to Danish authorities. According to Europol, the network recruited teenagers through social media to carry out contract killings in Denmark and Sweden using encrypted messaging apps.”
Europol Executive Director Catherine De Bolle said following the report’s publication that the “tense geopolitical context has continued to amplify violent extremist narratives, driving radicalisation within the EU” ensuring that terrorism and extremism are “high priorities for EU member states”.
“We’ve also seen a worrying rise in the number of minors and young people getting involved in terrorist and violent extremist activities across the EU. Terrorist groups target vulnerable individuals, especially those struggling with mental health issues, social isolation or digital dependency. These threats are becoming increasingly complex, reminding us that the threat of terrorism within the EU is neither static nor distant,” she said.