The narrative of extremism must be challenged from wherever it emerges, Humza Yousaf has said.
The Scottish First Minister was speaking after rioting in Dublin, where he praised Irish police for “running towards danger”.
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said the scenes showed that elected politicians needed to be able to articulate the concerns of their electorate.
Garda arrested 34 people after a night of violence following a knife attack near a school in Dublin city centre, in which three children and a woman were injured.
Ireland’s police chief Drew Harris blamed the rioting on a “lunatic, hooligan faction driven by a far-right ideology”.
I want to pay tribute to the Garda for police officers running towards danger when the rest of us would run away from danger— Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf
Politicians at the British-Irish Council meeting in Dublin were asked about the rise of far-right extremism.
Mr Yousaf expressed Scotland’s “shock and sorrow” about the knife attack and subsequent violence.
He said: “I want to pay tribute to the Garda for police officers running towards danger when the rest of us would run away from danger, doing their job diligently in terms of keeping the people of Dublin safe.
“We all have to be, not just aware of, but appropriately challenging the narrative of any extremists.
“Whether they are on the far right or elsewhere and challenging any narrative that seeks to divide us as communities.
“From a Scottish perspective, we have been a country which has benefited both because we’re a nation which has invited and welcomed immigrants to our country but also because we are a nation of migrants ourselves.”
He said the incidents of the past 24 hours would be a real test of any nation’s character.
“I’ve got no doubt at all that the Irish republic will absolutely step up, as they already have and come together as one to express solidarity with the victims affected yesterday afternoon but come together in their complete revulsion at the scenes of disorder and those who try to exploit such incidents for their own nefarious purposes.”
Asked if he was worried that similar scenes could occur in the UK, Mr Heaton-Harris said: “I would like to think we wouldn’t see that on any of our streets, but actually we have in the past.
“I don’t think I’m in a position to suggest nothing like that could happen in the future, or indeed suggest to the Irish as to how they could and should react to the pressures they have in this space.”
He added: “On the rise of the far right, it is up to democratically elected politicians to be able to articulate the concerns of their electorate and we need to do that better.
“We had in English politics the rise of the British National Party only a few years ago, they were elected to the European Parliament, MEPs were elected to the European Parliament in two regions of the United Kingdom.
“We need to, as a society, have a proper debate about migration, immigration, what we need in skills and how we treat people and what pressures it brings to our domestic services.
“These need to be articulated by mainstream politicians because if we don’t articulate them then we do leave a vacuum for other people who might not be as benign as we are.”
Secretary of State for Levelling Up Michael Gove said the events in Dublin were “shocking because it’s so rare in Ireland”.
All I would say is that it’s a mark of Ireland that this sort of thing is so rare— Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove
“People in Dublin endured two terrible attacks yesterday,” he said.
“So first of all, there was the horrific knife assault. That crime is being investigated and it would be wrong for anyone to speculate further at the moment. But then later, there was an attack on the rule of law and legitimate authority.
“It was a relatively small group of people. The Garda Commissioner has said a little bit about some of the motivation that may have been behind that. But behaviour of that kind is unacceptable wherever it occurs.
“It’s more shocking because it’s so rare in Ireland, and the Garda commissioner and his team, I think, responded in an exemplary fashion to this small flashpoint.
“In the United Kingdom, we have seen disturbances elsewhere.
“All I would say is that it’s a mark of Ireland that this sort of thing is so rare.
“It’s a mark of Ireland that the Garda responded so quickly, and it’s mark of Ireland that there’s been near universal revulsion at what happened and all of that, I think, is testament to the strength of Ireland’s democracy.”
