Three men jailed over plot to firebomb Galway mosque in Special Criminal Court

Three men were sentenced on 30 October 2026 at the Special Criminal Court over a planned firebomb attack on the Maryam Mosque on Monivea Road in Galway.

Garrett Pollock, 35, of Annalong in County Down, received ten and a half years, with the final year suspended. Karolis Peckauskas, 39, and Darren Gorman, 34, were each sentenced to eight years, and the last year of each term is suspended. Pollock also admitted possessing an explosive substance, which was found in four glass jars hidden in a drawer of his van on 4 November 2025.

The three men admitted attempting to take part in a terrorist act, with the attempted attack dated to 4 or 5 November 2025, an offence aggravated by hatred. Detective Inspector Alan Devitt told the court the group was a violent far-right extremist splinter of the online Irish Citizens Army, which used the Signal app to communicate. The court heard the men threatened attacks on mosques and on accommodation for asylum seekers, and that they filmed a video claiming responsibility for the planned attack on Pollock's phone in Gorman's kitchen in Portlaoise. Judge Caroline Biggs said their actions had shamed everyone in the country.