Man arrested in online threat probe against Simon Harris

A man has been arrested by gardai investigating online threats made against Taoiseach Simon Harris.

Gardai said they made the arrest on Sunday morning.

The man, aged in his 40s, is currently detained under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 at a garda station in the north western region.

The arrest has been made in connection with threats that were posted on social media in the last week.

Gardai said it is not providing any further information at this time.

The man, aged in his 50s, was arrested on Friday in connection with the threat on June 26.

The threat was made in a phone call to the Samaritans.

The Fine Gael leader’s wife and two young children were in the property at the time.

Gardai carried out a search of the property but nothing was discovered.

Following the incident, the Taoiseach condemned the threat as “utterly unacceptable”.

On Sunday, Mr Harris said he does not feel more vulnerable now than he did a year ago.

“We live in a great country. We live in a country where people are kind and decent, and what angers me is that a few small people, small in number and small in mindset, seek to misrepresent the views of our people,” he added.

“People with no democratic mandate and no legitimacy, who hide behind computers and keyboards, seeking to intimidate elected representatives.

“We had elections recently and I don’t think any of those trolls stood. We will in due course have a general election, they are welcome to stand, too, but I don’t expect they will.”