A spokesperson for An Garda Síochana has refused to confirm or deny whether Conor McGregor is under investigation in relation to allegations of incitement to hatred after tweets the UFC star sent last Thursday.
This morning Gript published a news article featuring comments from a Garda spokesperson who said that “A formal criminal investigation has not commenced in respect of any individual, or group of individuals at this time.”
We have since received further correspondence stating that An Garda Síochána does not “confirm or deny whether any individual or group of individuals are or are not under criminal investigation.” despite the initial denial.
“An Garda Síochána does not comment on named individuals nor does An Garda Síochána confirm or deny whether any individual or group of individuals are or are not under criminal investigation.” it said.
We were told that this is “the updated line”.
The statement continued that, “An Garda Síochána is aware of a large volume of commentary and posts on a variety of social media platforms and messaging apps by a number of different individual accounts.”
An Garda Síochána said it is “investigating such comments, posts and messages to identify any potential breaches of criminal legislation.”
This morning the Irish Mirror reported that McGregor “is now officially part of an investigation by gardai over alleged incitement to hatred around the Dublin riots.”
The Mirror said it had “learned that following an examination of recent social media remarks by the UFC star, McGregor is now part of a wider official criminal probe which was formally alluded to yesterday by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris.”
It was reported that the UFC star is being investigated in relation to a number of tweets he sent last Thursday after three small children and an adult were stabbed by a man outside an Irish school in central Dublin.