Ireland Introduces Armed Patrols Although Has No Data on Terror Threat

Irish Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said that Dublin takes every security precautions that can in order to prevent terrorist threat.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — Ireland has no information that the country is under a terrorist threat, but the introduction of the armed patrols is necessary to provide security, Irish Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said Thursday.

Earlier in the day, reports emerged that Ireland had deployed the armed patrols at the Dublin Airport and Dublin Port following recent terrorist attacks in Brussels.

"We have no specific information but suggest that Ireland is at risk, but clearly it is the democratic way of life and democratic values that have been challenged by terrorists. So, obviously, we have to take every security precautions that we can… and the armed patrols are a response to that," Fitzgerald told journalists before an extraordinary meeting of EU ministers for justice in Brussels.

On Tuesday, two suicide blasts hit the departures hall of Brussels international airport and an explosion shook a subway carriage in Maelbeek station, close to the EU institutions, killing at least 31 people and injuring 300.

The Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh) extremist group, outlawed in many countries including Russia and the United States, claimed responsibility for the Brussels attacks, which came just days after Belgian police captured a suspect in the November terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.