Taoiseach vows to hunt bomb threat culprits as Dublin braces for EU summit

Bomb threats tore through Ireland's newsrooms Friday morning. Staff were evacuated from RTÉ's Montrose campus in Dublin, the Irish Independent's Dublin offices and Marconi House, home to Newstalk and Today FM. RTÉ Radio 1 and Newstalk both cut normal programming before resuming broadcasts, with David McCullagh returning from RTÉ's mobile roadcaster.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin, speaking to McCullagh on RTÉ Radio 1, called the disruption "worrying" and put public safety first. "We will go after this to identify who's responsible and to hold them accountable," he said. He added that skilled experts are already working the case, but could not say whether lone actors or a coordinated operation were behind it.

Asked directly whether Russia was involved, Martin refused to speculate and said he would get a fuller security briefing later. On RTÉ's The Late Late Show that evening, he said again that nothing was definitive, noting that since the war in Ukraine broke out, Ireland and Europe have been alive to disruptive activity designed to spread fear and anxiety.

Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan said he had been briefed and that the threats are being taken "extremely seriously" under a Garda investigation. He warned that Europe is increasingly a target of hybrid threats that are "evolving in complexity and sophistication," and pushed for stronger EU cooperation against them. The government said in a statement that it "seems likely that this is a coordinated campaign of disruption," while admitting it still doesn't know who is responsible.

The timing is brutal. Next week Dublin hosts the European Political Community summit, drawing around 50 heads of state — and the Taoiseach calls the security operation around it the largest in the history of the state, bigger than a US presidential visit. "The security stakes are much higher in this period of time than they have been for a long time in Europe," Martin said, insisting the events "will go off safely" despite a nationwide strike planned for next Thursday.

Tánaiste Simon Harris, in Cork for his party's Ard Fheis, said Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly has assured the government the security plans are to his satisfaction, and that no one did anything but handle the situation well. He said Ireland "needs to move beyond thinking that this country is immune" to hybrid threats. The threats follow bomb alerts that hit at least 27 European flights on Thursday, including an Aer Lingus Dublin-to-Rome service diverted to a French military air base. Every flight landed safely and no bombs were found.