Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said the State will “go after” those responsible for bomb threats made on Friday against several media organisations, including the State broadcaster.
RTÉ, Newstalk, Virgin Media Television and Mediahuis, publisher of the Irish Independent, received bomb threats on Friday morning, prompting evacuations of several offices until it was deemed safe to return.
The media organisations received an emailed threat shortly after 8.30am, with evacuations resulting in broadcast disruption at both RTÉ Radio and Newstalk.
RTÉ Radio 1’s programming dropped during Morning Ireland, while Today with David McCullagh, due to start at 9am, was replaced with music and a pre-recorded message for a period.
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Newstalk presenter Claire Byrne, meanwhile, was conducting an interview on her show when she announced she would have to go off air.
It followed significant disruption to flights across Europe on Tuesday and Thursday, some of which had to make emergency landings or were diverted after hoax bomb threats were made.
Friday’s threats came just days before two significant EU presidency events due to be held in Dublin next week, including a meeting of the European Political Community, the largest heads of state gathering Ireland has ever hosted.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s Today with David McCullagh after the incident, the Taoiseach said the disruption caused by threats in recent days was “worrying” and appeared to be “co-ordinated efforts to disrupt”.
“We take the threats seriously, obviously, because the safety of the Irish public is our first priority,” he said.
“The gardaí, the Defence Forces, cyber and aviation authorities are working to establish who’s behind this, as are their European counterparts.
“It’s not determined yet whether it’s individuals or a co-ordinated attack. However, we will go after this to identify who’s responsible and to hold them accountable. We have very skilled experts working to identify who’s responsible.”
He said the threats were designed to cause disruption, fear and anxiety, adding, “We have to remain calm and very focused.”
Noting that Ireland would have the “largest number of prime ministers ever at the one time in our country” next week for EU presidency events, Martin said this called for a “very significant security operation”.
“We’re confident in terms of our capacities and in terms of the preparation we’ve put into this,” he said.
Asked if he believed Russia was behind the threats, Martin said: “I’m not going to make any comment at this stage as to who is responsible,” and that it was “a matter for experts to assess”.
RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst told RTÉ News the threat was a “disgraceful attack on the media, on free media, and unfortunately, probably where it comes from, they don’t really appreciate the importance of free media”.
Threats were also made to news outlets in the UK, while further bomb threats were made against airlines across Europe on Friday.
French prime minister Sébastien Lecornu said four flights were targeted with threats, all landed safely and were inspected. Police in Denmark and the Czech Republic are also investigating threats to flights.
