We approached the 40-year-old at a property in west Dublin on Thursday where she feigned complete ignorance when asked about her arrest and interrogation by officers from by An Garda Síochána’s counter-terror unit.
When it was put to her by our reporter that she had been interviewed in relation to the threats, she responded: “What? Me? No! Jesus! Definitely not!”
Tanaiste Simon Harris
News in 90 Seconds – September 5th 2025
She then stepped back inside the property and closed the door.
The woman is active on social media but shows no notable interest in issues relating to the far right.
A source said: “It’s worrying that seemingly normal people are being associated with making as serious a threat as this one online.
“It’s exceedingly concerning as normally this level of animosity is something we’d associate with extremists.”
The woman was arrested in west Dublin on Tuesday afternoon by gardaí probing the threats which referenced kidnapping Simon Harris’s children.
She was held under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 at a garda station in Dublin.
She had been identified as part of the inquiry after gardaí secured information on the social media account used to post the messages.
Posted on a Meta social media platform over the weekend, the messages warned that the Tánaiste’s children would be kidnapped and violence carried out against them.
Investigators from the Special Detective Unit (SDU), which oversees issues relating to national security and violent political extremism, were probing the matter.
A security source said that the incident involved threats to kidnap his children and to carry out acts of violence against them.
The SDU is being assisted in the inquiry by local gardaí and specialist detectives attached to the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau.
It is the latest threat to the safety of the Fine Gael leader and his family over the last year, with previous incidents including a bomb threat being called into his family home; masked men gathering outside the property; and threats of violence being made against his wife and children.
Garda headquarters was made aware of the most recent threat on Saturday lastafter several messages were posted online that made specific reference to Mr Harris’s children
The SDU has also been made aware in recent days of the Tánaiste’s home address being circulated among far-right actors on online platforms.
A spokesperson for Meta told the Sunday World it does “not allow threats of violence on our platforms”.
“We remove content and accounts that break our rules, as we have done in this case, and are continuing to work closely with law enforcement,” they added.
In such cases, the company works with law enforcement where they believe there is a genuine risk of physical harm or direct threats to public safety.
Garda headquarters confirmed that an investigation into the matter is ongoing.
In a statement issued earlier this week, the Tánaiste said: “This weekend, I received direct threats targeting my family.
“As a father, I have very strong views and feelings on this, as you can imagine.
“As a political leader, I find it unacceptable in every way. Let me be clear: threatening people – any person – is a crime. Threatening children is despicable. It is cowardice and it is a line that no decent society should tolerate being crossed. I will not be commenting further at this time on any ongoing garda investigation.”