IS bride Lisa Smith arrested in Dublin after being deported from Turkey
The 38-year-old has been taken to a police station for questioning after Turkey said it no longer wanted to detain her.
Sunday 1 December 2019 17:28, UK
A woman who left Ireland to become an Islamic State bride has been arrested on suspicion of terror offences after arriving back in Dublin.
Lisa Smith, 38, was deported from Turkey and landed at the Irish capital's airport on Sunday morning.
Smith, who is a former member of the Irish military, went to Syria in 2015 after converting to Islam and becoming radicalised.
While in the war-ravaged country, Smith had a daughter, now aged two, who was with her when she returned to Dublin.
The child is being cared for by her family in Ireland while her mother is questioned at a police station.
Smith was not in custody for the four-and-a-half-hour plane journey but Irish police were waiting at Dublin airport for the aircraft's arrival.
On the Turkish Airlines flight back and while leaving the plane, Smith is said to have covered her face with a blanket.
According to Ireland's RTE broadcaster, she had been living with her child in Syria's Ain Issa refugee camp.
The camp was attacked by Turkish forces, according to local media, when they pushed into northern Syria to create a "safe zone".
Ankara says it has captured 287 militants in northeast Syria.
It began deporting foreign citizens linked to Islamic State earlier this month and Ireland confirmed shortly after that Smith and her daughter had been identified for deportation by Turkey.
RTE said the child and family agency TUSLA, the Defence Forces and the Gardai are involved.
The channel's London reporter Dimitri O'Donnell said he saw Smith moved to the back of the plane before it had even stopped on the taxiway, after which she was taken off separately by the authorities.
Smith's daughter was fathered by a suspected member of IS who died last year, but is an Irish citizen.
She has denied being involved in violence.
Before she went to Syria, Smith, originally from Dundalk in Co Louth, held a relatively lowly role in Ireland's Defence Forces.
She worked on the official Irish government jet and accompanied former president Mary Robinson and then prime minister Bertie Ahern on journeys.
Current PM Leo Varadkar said she should have the right of return to Ireland and that removing her citizenship would not be right or compassionate.
The UK's national security adviser, meanwhile, has said captured British Islamic State fighters will be brought back to the UK to be put on trial if it is the best place for them to face justice.
So far, Turkey has repatriated 10 Germans, one US citizen, and one British suspected fighter. Eleven French detainees will be sent to France in early December.