Mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor has suggested there is an attempt to scapegoat him following criticism of his recent social media posts on immigration.
In a series of messages on X, formerly known as Twitter, Mr McGregor has claimed that "Ireland is at war" and that there is "grave danger among us".
"Truth they don't want to speak," Mr McGregor posted this afternoon.
"Attempt to scapegoat me all you wish," he wrote.
Last Wednesday night, in a post viewed almost 19 million times, Conor McGregor wrote: "Ireland, we are at war."
In the aftermath of Thursday's stabbing in Dublin he posted that "there is grave danger among us in Ireland that should never be here in the first place..."
The comments were criticised in the Dáil yesterday by TDs including Labour Justice Spokesperson Aodhán Ó Ríordáin.
"I think these tweets are incredibly irresponsible for someone who has ten million followers on Twitter alone to be whipping up this level of poison and hate," Mr Ó Ríordáin told RTÉ News today.
"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," he added.
On Thursday night, Conor McGregor posted a message praising the Brazilian man who intervened to stop the Dublin stabbing attack.
The following day, he criticised a range of Government policies including what he described as "our lax border".
He later wrote that he didn't condone the riots but does understand the frustrations, adding that a move must be made to ensure change is ushered in.
He listed what he described as failed government policies such as the health service, housing and immigration which he claimed was "wide open".
Yesterday, in response to comments made by the Taoiseach in the Dáil, Mr McGregor wrote that he does not connect crime with migration but that there is a real lapse in national security and that a new system of assessing entrants is needed.
In reply to a post from another X user that Mr McGregor should run for office, the owner of the platform Elon Musk said that it is not a bad idea.
RTÉ News requested comment from Mr McGregor but has not received a response.
John McGuirk, editor of Gript.ie, said some of Mr McGregor's comments are quite extreme.
"Like saying Ireland is at war, I don't agree with that, but why is that resonating with people?" Mr McGuirk said.
"I think what has happened is that he has struck a nerve and struck a chord with a lot of people who feel their views on immigration, their concerns about what is happing to their communities, simply haven't been reflected in political discourse thus far," he added.
Gript.ie was among the first news outlets to publish information about the nationality of the suspect in the Dublin stabbing attack and today Mr McGuirk said he stood over that decision.
"We've heard a lot about the risks of disinformation and misinformation and people believing things that aren't true," Mr McGuirk said.
"There was a lot of speculation online about what may or may not have happened so what we did was put out a truthful, confirmed, verified fact and I stand over that," he added.
