The Minister for Justice has said that he wants social media companies to do more to ensure their platforms are not used to "freely spread incitement or hatred of others".
He was responding to a report by the Hope and Courage collective which identified a significant increase in the number of arson attacks on properties used to house asylum seekers, or buildings rumoured to be earmarked for that purpose.
Speaking in Athlone, Jim O'Callaghan said he was concerned about the situation and warned that anyone involved in such activity would face "severe consequences".
The minister said that gardaí were constantly monitoring social media accounts to gather intelligence and assist the investigative process around such incidents.
He said there was also an onus on wider society to call out and report instances where people were seeking to provoke others, to engage in violent behaviour.
"We cannot tolerate people in our communities suggesting that violence should be used for purposes such as that," he said.
Minister O'Callaghan said there was an obligation on social media companies to ensure they were not facilitating lawbreaking activities. He said he wanted these companies to do more to ensure regulations were being adhered to.
He said existing legislation was robust enough to deal with any breaches but that society in general also needed to send out a strong message that it rejected such criminal acts.
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The Garda Commissioner said every single arson attack was taken extremely seriously.
Justin Kelly acknowledged there were challenges and difficulties in investigating such incidents but he said they were allocated "whatever resources are necessary in order to ensure perpetrators were brought to justice".
He said he would like people to be prosecuted for every single crime that was carried out but that the reality was this was not always possible.
However, the commissioner emphasised that "every investigative avenue possible" would be followed in relation to arson attacks on International Protection Centres.
He said he was confident the force had the appropriate resources and capabilities to investigate all such incidents.
He echoed the minister's concerns about the usage of social media to "weaponise" discussions around the issue.
However Commissioner Kelly said people needed to be aware that they were not acting anonymously when posting content online and if "they cross that criminal threshold" they would be prosecuted and convicted.
