Would-be Galway mosque bombers made video warning they would carry out further attacks, court hears

A group styling itself the “Irish Defence Army” planned to smash the windows of a mosque using sledgehammers and throw pipe bombs inside to make a “public statement”, the Special Criminal Court heard on Monday. The three-judge court also heard evidence that the defendants had a Signal group chat called “Shadows of Eire”, in which they shared information on making improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and discussed their plans to attack a mosque.The plan was foiled when a Garda drug unit stopped two of the organisation’s members in a car and noted that one of them, Garrett Pollack, was evasive, seemed nervous and his leg was shaking. They searched the car and discovered written oaths, crests and a group manifesto along with materials related to the making of IEDs.Further investigations showed that the group had prepared a statement written in the past tense taking responsibility for bombing a mosque in Galway. They had also filmed a video in which they warned that they would carry out further attacks and that “an eye for an eye is going to be our approach going forward”.READ MOREThey said legitimate targets would include mosques, anyone who facilitated the development of accommodation for international protection applicants and estate agents who “house these thugs ahead of our own”. They said they would not target women or children “unless the woman is a threat to our country or loved ones”. Det Insp Alan McDevitt told barrister Edward Doocey that the Irish Defence Army formed in October 2025 as a splinter from a larger group known as the Irish Citizens Army. He described the splinter organisation as a right-wing extremist, terrorist group with an anti-immigration ideology. Karolis Peckauskas (39), with an address at Newfoundwell Road, Drogheda, Co Louth, previously pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to engage in a terrorist activity or a terrorist-linked activity.Darren Gorman (34), of O’Moore Place, Portlaoise, Co Laois, and Garrett Pollock (36), of Kilhorne Greene, Annalong, Co Down, both pleaded guilty to the same offence.The details of the offence are that between November 4th and 5th, 2025, the defendants attempted to engage in terrorist activity or terrorist-linked activity by attempting to set fire to the Maryam Mosque at Old Cottages, Monivea Road, Galway, an offence which was aggravated by hatred.[ Far-right group ‘laughed, joked’ about imminent attack on Galway Mosque, court hearsOpens in new window ]Pollack on Monday pleaded guilty to a further count of possessing an explosive substance on November 4th that year. McDevitt said that when gardaí stopped Pollack and Peckauskas in a black BMW in Portlaoise on November 4th, 2025, they were each carrying knives. In the car’s boot, gardaí discovered a Tricolour, cable ties, tactical vests, hatchets, a lump hammer, knives, masks, pipe cap ends and five litres of peroxide, which can be used in manufacturing pipe bombs.They also discovered the organisation’s emblem, gloves, further knives, changes of clothing and knuckle dusters. When gardaí asked Pollock to account for what was found, he said: “We’ve done nothing yet.”Gardaí searched Pollack’s van, which was parked outside Peckauskas’s home in Drogheda, and found a hidden drawer containing four IEDs. Peckauskas’s barrister Morgan Shelley told the court that his client offers his “sincere remorse and a sincere apology”. He said Peckauskas wants particularly to apologise to the mosque-going community of Ireland who must have found the offence “extremely traumatising”.Shelley said Peckauskas became radicalised after joining various online groups and was affected by conspiracy theories, in particular those he learned from a group run by a former broadsheet journalist.Lawyers for Gorman and Pollack will make their pleas in mitigation to the court next Friday.