Former UFC fighter Conor McGregor criticized the Irish police and other leaders for their response to a stabbing this week in Dublin, arguing Ireland is facing danger from crime and authorities have failed to combat it.
McGregor, who is Irish, weighed in on social media as Irish authorities condemned rioters for taking to the streets after rumors spread that a foreign national was responsible for the stabbing outside a school in Dublin.
The BBC later reported that the suspect is an Irish citizen in his late 40s.
“There is grave danger among us in Ireland that should never be here in the first place, and there has been zero action done to support the public in any way, shape or form with this frightening fact. NOT GOOD ENOUGH,” McGregor posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“Announce our plan of action!! What are we waiting for? Your statements of nothing are absolutely worthless to the solving of this issue,” he wrote in another post while dismissing statements from Ireland’s president, prime minister and other officials.
McGregor has spoken out repeatedly to call for immigration reform in Ireland. He has voiced outrage over the death of Irish teacher Ashling Murphy, who was killed in a stabbing last year. A Slovak national was found guilty of murder in Murphy’s killing last week.
Irish police said two adults and three children were wounded in the stabbing attack near an aftercare center in Dublin on Thursday. A 5-year-old girl was in critical condition and a woman was in serious condition as of Friday, The Associated Press reported.
Around 500 protesters took to the streets and damaged at least seven vehicles, including torching a bus, according to authorities. They also damaged 13 nearby properties and clashed with police.
Irish police Commissioner Drew Harris has blamed the rioting on far-right protesters and said people were “radicalized” across the internet and social media.
Ireland’s prime minister condemned the rioters Friday.
“These criminals did not do what they did because they love Ireland, they did not do what they did because they wanted to protect Irish people, they did not do it out of any sense of patriotism, however warped,” Prime Minister Leo Varadkar told reporters. “They did so because they’re filled with hate, they love violence, they love chaos, and they love causing pain to others.”