Third Threatening Call Against Justice Minister Investigated
Gardaí Launch Investigation as Helen McEntee Faces Series of Threats
Gardaí are probing a third threatening phone call made against Justice Minister Helen McEntee over the weekend.
Sources have told the Irish Mirror/Irish Daily Star that the phone call, which directly threatened the Minister, was made to the Samaritans helpline late on Saturday night.
It is the third such threatening call to be made in less than a week and has sparked yet another security alert for specialist gardaí.
Two phone calls had already been made on Wednesday - sparking a major Garda investigation and the evacuation of the Minister’s husband and children from her family home at the time.
A spokesperson for the Department of Justice declined to comment for security reasons.
It comes after Michael Murray was just recently convicted over a threatening phone call he made from the Midlands Prison to the Samaritans - directed at the Minister.
Murray (52), formerly of Seafield Road, Killiney, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to one count of knowingly making a false report giving rise to an apprehension for the safety of someone else while he was imprisoned in the Midlands Prison, Portlaoise on March 7th, 2021.
His eight-day trial heard that an anonymous caller phoned the Samaritans claiming to be from the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) and said explosives had been planted at the home of Ms McEntee.
Murray took the witness stand and told the court that he did not make the bomb threat and claimed the allegation against him “does not make sense.” He said the idea that he would call in a threat against the “most senior ranking” member of the Department of Justice from his cell while isolated and on a line that was being monitored was “absolutely ludicrous.”
“The central issue in this case is a call.
I could have come in here to the jury and hid everything.
I didn’t choose to do that.
I consciously told the jury the truth,” Mr. Murray said.
“The jury may never have known who Michael Murray was, if I wanted to go down that route.
But this is about the truth of a call.
Some people may not like Michael Murray, (but) this is not what this is about.
It’s not a talent contest.
This is about a threat to the security of the State.
This is not a personality contest,” he said.
The court was shown videos of interviews between gardaí and the accused that were conducted on March 26, 2021, and in which he said a group named the ‘Criminal Revenge Group’ was behind the threat - and that he could negotiate with them for it to stop.
The accused also told gardaí that it was “nothing personal” and he “wouldn’t like to see” Ms McEntee getting hurt - further claiming that the decision to make the phone call was made about a week beforehand.
In relation to the latest threat made against Minister McEntee, a spokesperson for An Garda Síochána told the Irish Mirror in a statement: “An Garda Síochána does not comment on security details relating to individual State officials or Government ministers.”
Sources have told the Irish Mirror/Irish Daily Star that the phone call, which directly threatened the Minister, was made to the Samaritans helpline late on Saturday night.
It is the third such threatening call to be made in less than a week and has sparked yet another security alert for specialist gardaí.
Two phone calls had already been made on Wednesday - sparking a major Garda investigation and the evacuation of the Minister’s husband and children from her family home at the time.
A spokesperson for the Department of Justice declined to comment for security reasons.
It comes after Michael Murray was just recently convicted over a threatening phone call he made from the Midlands Prison to the Samaritans - directed at the Minister.
Murray (52), formerly of Seafield Road, Killiney, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to one count of knowingly making a false report giving rise to an apprehension for the safety of someone else while he was imprisoned in the Midlands Prison, Portlaoise on March 7th, 2021.
His eight-day trial heard that an anonymous caller phoned the Samaritans claiming to be from the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) and said explosives had been planted at the home of Ms McEntee.
Murray took the witness stand and told the court that he did not make the bomb threat and claimed the allegation against him “does not make sense.” He said the idea that he would call in a threat against the “most senior ranking” member of the Department of Justice from his cell while isolated and on a line that was being monitored was “absolutely ludicrous.”
“The central issue in this case is a call.
I could have come in here to the jury and hid everything.
I didn’t choose to do that.
I consciously told the jury the truth,” Mr. Murray said.
“The jury may never have known who Michael Murray was, if I wanted to go down that route.
But this is about the truth of a call.
Some people may not like Michael Murray, (but) this is not what this is about.
It’s not a talent contest.
This is about a threat to the security of the State.
This is not a personality contest,” he said.
The court was shown videos of interviews between gardaí and the accused that were conducted on March 26, 2021, and in which he said a group named the ‘Criminal Revenge Group’ was behind the threat - and that he could negotiate with them for it to stop.
The accused also told gardaí that it was “nothing personal” and he “wouldn’t like to see” Ms McEntee getting hurt - further claiming that the decision to make the phone call was made about a week beforehand.
In relation to the latest threat made against Minister McEntee, a spokesperson for An Garda Síochána told the Irish Mirror in a statement: “An Garda Síochána does not comment on security details relating to individual State officials or Government ministers.”
