Ireland on alert as national broadcaster evacuated over bomb threat

RTÉ Radio One was pulled off air after a bomb threat was made against the national broadcaster's headquarters in Dublin.Staff working at the television and radio headquarters were evacuated from the Montrose campus on Friday morning.The station's programme Today With David McCullagh was replaced with a pre-recorded programme of music.The show had been due to begin at its usual slot time of 9am, but music was instead heard playing on loop.An audio message apologised for the “interruption to the usual schedule”, saying it was “trying to get things back on track”.McCullagh told listeners that the broadcaster received an email on Friday morning warning that a bomb would detonate on the site within 45 minutes.A Garda Armed Support Unit outside the entrance of the RTE headquarters in Dublin (PA)His Radio One show has since returned to the airwaves, with McCullagh broadcasting from the station's mobile broadcast vehicle while gardaí continued to search the newsrooms and studios.“It is being taken seriously,” he told listeners.“And just to explain to listeners that this is a threat for that a bomb was going to go off within 45 minutes of the email being received. And, obviously, any employer that receives an email like that has to take it seriously. And we all took it seriously.”It is understood that other media organisations were sent threats on Friday morning.The threat to the broadcaster comes after bomb threats were sent to airlines, including an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin, over recent days.Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the threat was being taken seriously.Staff were evacuated and a show was pulled off air (PA)“It is worrying and we take the threat seriously,” Mr Martin told RTÉ Radio One.“Yesterday, there appeared to be coordinated efforts to disrupt air travel and so forth. “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 coordinated attack.“However, we will go after this to identify who’s responsible and to hold them accountable. And we have very skilled experts now working to identify those responsible for this, but our ultimate priority is the safety of our people, and we’ve been alive to risks of this kind of for quite some time.”The threats were received ahead of a week when Ireland will host two major European political summits as part of its six-month presidency of the EU Council.Mr Martin said there would be a “very significant security operation” in place for the European Political Community meeting on Thursday and the informal meeting of EU heads of state on Friday.In a statement on the bomb threat against the national broadcaster, RTÉ said: “RTÉ, along with a range of media organisations, received a threat this morning.“In line with our security and safety protocols, the campus has been evacuated and some services are affected. Gardaí are on site in Donnybrook.”