A representative of Ireland’s Jewish community contacted Taoiseach Micheál Martin three months ago to raise “deep and increasing concern about the rise in anti-Semitism in Ireland” and to seek a Government plan to tackle it.
Records released under the Freedom of Information Act show Maurice Cohen, the chairman of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland (JRCI), wrote to Mr Martin last October.
Mr Cohen wrote that the State remained one of the few EU member states without a national plan to combat anti-Semitism. He urged the Government to “set a defined timeline and departmental responsibility for drafting and adoption of Ireland’s national plan”.
He said in December that, as yet, the Government “has given no commitment on the timeline as requested in the October letter”.
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In his letter to Mr Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris on October 8th, Mr Cohen said: “I write to you with deep and increasing concern about the rise in anti-Semitism in Ireland, a trend that regrettably mirrors developments in several other European countries.
“The Jewish Community in Ireland is, quite frankly, frightened, especially in the wake of the recent murders of synagogue worshippers in Manchester, which have profoundly shaken Jewish communities across these islands.”
Two people were killed in the attack on the synagogue in Manchester on October 2nd.
Mr Cohen noted the programme for government includes a commitment to “implement the EU Declaration on Fostering Jewish Life in Europe and to give effect to the IHRA [International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance] definition of anti-Semitism”.
He added: “That commitment now requires tangible action.”
In a statement in December, Mr Cohen said the JRCI “believes the rise in anti-Semitism in Ireland is best understood not as a surge in overt violence, but as the growth of what can only be described as ambient anti-Semitism.
“Jewish families report a steady climate of discomfort as well as isolated incidents, a sense that their identity has become politicised, questioned, or treated as suspect.”
Mr Cohen said a “central problem is denial ... When anti-Semitism is raised, it is frequently dismissed on the basis that there have been no pogroms, no burning synagogues, no mass violence,” he said.
That response relies on an “outdated understanding of anti-Semitism” and, “by reverting to those past concepts, contemporary anti-Semitism is rendered unrecognisable and therefore unaddressed. This is precisely why the IHRA Working Definition of anti-Semitism exists”, he added.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan was present at Dublin’s Herzog Park in December at an event held to celebrate the second night of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
The victims of an attack on a December 14th Hanukkah event in Sydney, where 15 people were killed, were commemorated at the Dublin gathering.
A Department of Justice statement said Mr O’Callaghan emphasised at the event that the Jewish community are an “extremely important part of Ireland’s community” and “it as an absolute imperative that they are protected and respected”.
It said Ireland’s approach to tackling anti-Semitism is to address it together with other forms of discrimination against minority groups as part of the National Action Plan against Racism 2023-2027.
“The Government’s endorsement of the Global Guidelines for Countering anti-Semitism and the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism supports our wider commitment to addressing discrimination in all its forms, through implementation of the plan,” it said.
Officials from the Department of Justice will consider the application of the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism in consultation with representatives of the Jewish community and officials from the departments of Education and Foreign Affairs, the statement said.
“The Government is determined to stamp out hate-motivated crimes and to protect all minority communities, including Jewish people, from discrimination. This is being actively achieved through legislation, policy and the provision of supports,” it added.
Mr O’Callaghan is said to have spoken with the Garda Commissioner to ensure there are sufficient protections in place for the Jewish community in Ireland.
The Minister is “very satisfied” with the work of gardaí in collaboration with the Jewish community, and there “are significant protections in place to ensure that they are protected”, the statement said.
