A woman who grew up with Lisa Smith has told her trial that the former Irish soldier used to talk a lot about suicide bombings and jihad after she converted to Islam.

Ms Smith, a former Defence Forces soldier from Dundalk, is accused of being a member of the terrorist group ISIS.

In court this morning, Carol Duffy said she had converted to Islam sometime in the early noughties.

She said she was asked to talk to Lisa Smith in 2011 after the Dundalk woman visited her local Mosque to express an interest in becoming a Muslim.

She described Ms Smith’s view of Islam as “political”

She said she became “really withdrawn” after meeting an American couple online.

A recording was played of Ms Duffy talking to RTÉ’s Liveline in March 2019 – nine months before Lisa was repatriated to Ireland from Turkey.

In the interview, she told Joe she believed Ms Smith was radicalised online.

Lisa Smith denies being a member of ISIS and has also pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempting to finance terrorism in 2015.