RTE Campus Evacuated After Bomb Threat
Irish broadcaster receives email threat, prompting police response and programming disruption amid wider European security concerns.
Carla Rooney
Staff evacuated the RTE campus in Donnybrook on Friday morning following an emailed bomb threat.
Today With David McCullagh, the station's flagship program, was replaced with pre-recorded music.
Irish police, including the armed response unit, converged on the RTÉ site. Gardaí remain on the Donnybrook campus.
These threats to media outlets follow recent bomb threats sent to airlines across Europe. Micheál Martin noted that "yesterday, there appeared to be coordinated efforts to disrupt air travel and so forth."
It is worrying and we take the threat seriously.
An Garda Síochána investigates the threats made against media organizations in Ireland and Europe. "It is worrying and we take the threat seriously," Martin stated.
The emailed threats to media outlets arrived ahead of a week when Ireland hosts two major European political summits as part of its six-month presidency of the EU Council. Other media organizations received similar threats.
The unknown sender of the email claimed a bomb would detonate on the site within 45 minutes. "The gardaí, the Defence Forces, cyber and aviation authorities are working to establish who’s behind this, as are their European counterparts," Martin confirmed. He added, "It’s not determined yet whether it’s individuals or a coordinated attack."