Conor McGregor has accused Irish authorities of making him a “scapegoat” for last week’s riots in Dublin.
According to local media reports, gardai are investigating the MMA fighter’s posts for alleged incitement to hatred in relation to the riots in Dublin city centre.
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Gardai have not publicly confirmed whether he is under investigation – but told Sky News it was “aware of a large volume of commentary and posts on a variety of social media platforms and messaging apps by a number of different individual accounts”.
It added it “is investigating such comments, posts and messages to identify any potential breaches of criminal legislation”.
Posting on X on Wednesday, McGregor said: “Attempt to scapegoat me all you wish. If it makes you feel better, I will take it.
“The truth of the many failed policies of this government however, will never stop being the reason we have innocent children in hospital on life support after being stabbed by a deranged criminal, and whose current conditions are being hid from the public.
“Shame on government and those harbouring this and trying to avert from the causes of this. Shame!”
Riots broke out in Ireland’s capital Dublin, with “huge destruction by a riotous mob” leading to the arrests of 34 people, Irish police have said.
The protest was triggered by a stabbing outside a primary school which has left a five-year-old schoolgirl in critical condition and a female teacher in her 30s in a very serious condition.
Here’s everything we know about the attack, the riots and how the events unfolded.
On 22 November, the former UFC champion posted on X: “Ireland, we are at war.”
On the day of the riots, McGregor wrote a series of posts on X appearing to blame immigration for the incidents.
“There is grave danger among us in Ireland that should never be here in the first place,” McGregor said. “Make change or make way. Ireland for the victory.”
In a separate post he wrote: “You reap what you sow.”
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The day after the riots, he posted: “I do not condone last nights riots. I do not condone any attacks on our first responders in their line of duty.
“I do not condone looting and the damaging of shops. Last nights scenes achieved nothing toward fixing the issues we face.
“I do understand frustrations however, and I do understand a move must be made to ensure the change we need is ushered in.”
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Labour justice spokesperson Aodhan O Riordain, speaking in the Irish parliament this week, criticised McGregor over his statements about the riots in Dublin.
He also told RTE News: “I think these tweets are incredibly irresponsible for someone who has 10 million followers on Twitter alone to be whipping up this level of poison and hate.
“He knows what he is doing, he is not stupid and for him to say on Wednesday that ‘Ireland is at war’ to his following is incredibly irresponsible.”
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After Taoiseach Leo Varadkar urged people to “try and avoid connecting crime with migration”, McGregor replied to a video of the politician’s comments on X, posting: “I do not connect crime with migration.
“I connect crime to your governments many failed policies in protecting and securing the inhabitants of Ireland. There is a real lapse in national security.
“We need a brand new task force founded to assess all entrants into Ireland. Our natives and our visitors will all benefit with this peace of mind. We need deportation of those here illegally or that have committed a crime here.”
