Galway: County Down man among those jailed for planned mosque attack

The men had filmed a video on Pollock’s phone in Gorman’s kitchen in Portlaoise claiming responsibility for the attack.

The footage showed four masked men in tactical gear standing in front of the Irish flag.

In the video, they said they would like “to take responsibility for destruction of first mosque introduced into our great country in Galway”.

The court has also received a written letter from Pollock expressing his remorse and shame for his actions.

It heard that Pollock was “radicalised” online after he started misusing alcohol and cocaine.

Pollock, a gym instructor, consumed radicalised content about purported threats that immigrants posed to the community which was described as “emotive, ill-informed and AI-generated”.

The court had heard that after making contact with a group and being invited into smaller groups, he found a sense of belonging and became radicalised very quickly and wanted to show them he was committed.

A doctor who assessed Pollock had said his actions were taken in the context of emotional dysfunction, low self-esteem and isolation.

Gorman’s defence counsel had previously told the court that his psychological report highlights extremes of submissiveness and vulnerability, that he was a drug user and addict and also had certain mental health issues.

They had added that he had no history of violence, hatred or terrorism.