Gardaí have released a far right agitator who was arrested on suspicion that he created and circulated a social media post making false and damaging claims about a migrant man.
The arrest is believed to be the first of its kind, for the creation and circulation of false social media posts which did not include threats of violence.
The fact a criminal investigation has been carried out into such a social media post appears to represent a significant shift in the way the Garda is dealing with such content.
The suspect, a man in his 40s, was arrested after a search of a private residence in south Wicklow on Tuesday while a number of phones and other devices were also seized for examination.
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He was released from custody on Wednesday and a file is to be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions, a Garda spokesman said. The investigation is ongoing.
Garda sources said the arrest, made under legislation enacted 38 years ago, would likely prove a “test case for tacking these kinds of social media posts” in the future. The suspect was being question on suspicion he committed an offence contrary to Section 12(a) of the Criminal Law Act, 1976.
Under that provision, anyone who “knowingly makes a false report or statement” suggesting “an offence has been committed” and which gives rise to “apprehension for the safety of persons or property” has committed an offence. On conviction, that offence carries a sanction of imprisonment up to five years if tried on indictment.
The content at the centre of the criminal investigation included a photograph of a man asleep on a bus travelling to Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow. The post claimed the man was a migrant and had exposed himself to women and girls on the bus journey before falling asleep.
It was claimed the man depicted in the photograph shared in the June post was an international protection applicant (IPA) living in Trudder House on the outskirts of the town. Weeks earlier there were violent clashes outside Trudder House between gardaí and anti-migration protesters who were trying to block its use as a centre for IPAs.
The atmosphere in the area remained highly charged for months, even after IPAs were moved into the centre. The false social media post was written during that period of heightened tensions. The suspect arrested on Tuesday is regarded as a far right agitator and was also involved in the protest at Trudder House.
Garda Headquarters confirmed a suspect had been arrested in Co Wicklow on Tuesday “as part of an ongoing investigation into the creation and dissemination of false allegations on social media”.
It explained the criminal investigation began in June “when an image of a man travelling on a bus in Newtownmountkennedy was circulated online, accompanied by claims that he was behaving inappropriately towards a minor”.
Those claims made were examined by gardaí and the allegation of inappropriate activity “towards a minor, or any other person” was proved to be “unfounded and false”. The publication of the post had caused “serious anxiety and concern to the individual depicted”. It had also created “alarm and concern tending to give rise to apprehension for the safety of persons in the local community”.
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