13 hours ago
Department of Foreign Affairs says it has 'concerns' about Iranian opposition group
The Department of Foreign Affairs says it has concerns about an Iranian opposition group, which a delegation of seven Fianna Fáil TDs and Senators supported at a conference in Paris last May.
The organisation is called the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and is linked with the People's Mujahideen of Iran (MEK) - which wants to overthrow the regime in Iran.
Last May, four Fianna Fáil TDs - Pádraig O'Sullivan, James O'Connor, Peter 'Chap' Cleere, and Tony McCormack - as well as three Fianna Fáil Senators - Erin McGreehan, Mary Fitzpatrick, and Teresa Costello - participated in the NCRI conference.
Also attending the event in the French capital was Independent Senator Gerard Craughwell, as well as former Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Oireachtas members.
Asked by RTÉ News whether the Department of Foreign Affairs has any links to the NCRI/MEK, a statement said it has no engagement with either group on the basis of "concerns about some aspects of its organisation and activities". It did not detail the concerns.
An NCRI report on the Paris conference indicates a full-throated support for the organisation from the Irish delegates.
Deputy Cleere is quoted as "praising the NCRI's vision", adding: "We, members of the Irish Parliament and Senate, will stand with you always."
Deputy O'Connor is quoted as expressing "respect for the Iranian resistance" and calling on the EU to change policy and engage with the NCRI.
Deputy Fitzpatrick is said to have presented a statement from Irish politicians "condemning Iran's human rights crisis and endorsing the NCRI's Ten-Point Plan".
Deputy McGreehan is said to have "praised" the NCRI's embodiment of women's leadership as "unprecedented and unique in Middle Eastern politics."
Deputy Craughwell is said to have urged the Iranian people to revolt: "You need to rise up, call the citizens of Iran together, and say enough."
Irish politicians have participated in the NCRI conferences before, and one was addressed by former Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
RTÉ News asked for a comment from the eight politicians who participated in the May conference but only one replied - Senator Fitzpatrick.
In a statement she said: "I can confirm my attendance at a meeting with the Iranian resistance movement in Auvers-sur-Oise, Île-de-France, France in May 2025.
"At the meeting I presented the statement from the majority of Seanad Éireann Senators in support of a free, independent and democratic Iran," she added.
The statement notes that Iran had executed more than 1,000 people last year, it strongly criticised the so-called hijab and chastity laws in Iran and it condemned the regime's crackdown on MEK.
It suggests the international community must recognise the "Iranian people's right to regime change" and "the right of MEK resistance units" to fight the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC).
The signatories include 18 TDs and 12 Senators.
None of the attendees of the May event offered a response to the Department of Foreign Affairs' view on the NCRI/MEK, namely that it has "concerns about some aspects of its organisation and activities".
In 2021, the now Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill apologised for delivering an address to the NCRI, by remote, after it was put to her by the Sunday Independent that the UN Committee Against Torture had previously found that MEK been involved in "terrorist activities".
Then Deputy Carroll MacNeill told the paper: "The invitation and correspondence I received in relation to the event did not make any reference to the MEK, nor was I ever aware or made aware of any link between the event and this organisation.
"I apologise for any link, no matter how remote, unwitting or inadvertent, to any such organisation," she added.
