A leading Muslim cleric has warned that Islamic militants are active in Ireland and recruiting young people to the ISIS cause.

Dr Ali al-Saleh, imam at the Shia mosque in Milltown in Dublin, has issued his warning in a Dublin radio interview.

He told Newstalk that Ireland is not doing enough to combat the threat of terrorist group ISIL.

The Irish Independent reports that Dr al-Saleh said: “They (ISIS members) live here, they are active at the level of small circles, giving lectures, talking to the youth.

“This is a problem. We’ve said that from the beginning, now we have it. We didn’t tackle it from the beginning. It is a duty of us, the Imam, to talk openly against those things.

“I ask the Muslims here to cooperate with the gardai (police) and to notify them about any activities like this.”

The report adds that Dr al-Saleh said his son Jaafar, a medical student, has heard a lot of people getting excited about what’s going on in Iraq and Syria.

Young Irish Muslims have spoken about their friends trying to join the fighting, he added.

Dr al-Saleh said: “You get a lot of speakers coming here from all over the world, from Saudi Arabia, from the Gulf states. It’s sometimes kind of shocking that they’re allowed into Ireland.

“Back over there where they speak, in Saudi Arabia or whatever, clearly they call for people to go to jihad in Syria and Iraq.”

Irish police have already prevented controversial Muslim preacher Mohammed al-Arifi from entering Ireland after Dr al-Saleh warned that he ‘preaches hatred.’

He added: “When Arifi decided to come to Ireland for a few months, our people complained to the gardai (police) and the gardai stopped him from coming.

“He is a very well-known preacher, who preaches hatred. Muslims in Ireland need to notify the gardai and the Government about the danger of allowing those visitors coming from outside.”