Two men were charged in connection with a planned far-right terror attack targeting minority groups in Ireland. During a hearing, a court heard that a video showed an extremist group threatening to attack a mosque in Galway, as well as “IPAS centres, mosques and hotels housing migrants”.

The two men were arrested during a cross-border operation in Co. Laois last week, in an operation that involved coordination between the Gardaí in the Republic and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). On Friday, November 7, they appeared before a special sitting of Portlaoise District Court, where they were charged with possession and control of explosives.

As reported by the Irish Times, the court heard that the charges arise from an investigation into an alleged terror attack planned by a far-right extremist group. Gardaí showed the court evidence that a video recording had been produced by four masked men, in which they spoke about their intention to take violent action against specific targets.

Gardaí said they found the video on a device seized in the home of one of the two men arrested last week. Authorities believe the video was recorded in a house in Portlaoise, and hasn’t been shared yet.

Commenting on the video, Judge Cody said that it was “a practice of a statement being released subsequent to a successful terrorist attack”. The attack in question was intended to destroy a mosque in Galway, which was described in the video as the first in the Republic.

The judge noted how the masked men in the video employed anti-immigrant rhetoric, alleging that the “migrants that have been brought into the country by our Government” were “a threat to our sovereignty and could potentially be a hostile takeover”.

Judge Cody went on to describe how the men spoke about the attack on the Galway mosque and added that this wouldn’t “be their last attack. They describe their philosophy as an eye for an eye. They say they intend to target IPAS [asylum] centres, mosques and hotels housing migrants and that they would take this as far as necessary to achieve their goals and call on others to join them.”

Both men were denied bail and remanded in custody. They are due to appear in court again next week.