Despite the culprit being currently unknown, Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan has called for a coordinated EU response following bomb scares at several Irish media organisations, claiming that Europe has become the target of “different forms of hybrid attacks.”
In a statement issued by the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration today, the Fianna Fáil Minister said the incidents were under “active investigation” and described threats of that nature as “completely unacceptable.”
O’Callaghan stated that he had received updates on the alerts that occurred earlier in the day and commended the immediate actions taken by Gardaí.
“I have been briefed on the circumstances surrounding the threats made to a number of media organisations this morning,” O’Callaghan said.
“These threats are being taken extremely seriously and are now the subject of an active investigation by An Garda Síochána. I want to commend the members of An Garda Síochána for their swift response in immediately taking the precautionary actions that were necessary.”
The Minister went on to link the domestic alerts to wider continental disruption, asserting that European nations were facing increasingly complex threats.
“Europe has increasingly become the target of different forms of hybrid attacks, which are evolving in complexity and sophistication,” he claimed.
“To counter these threats, it is important to strengthen our cooperation and coordination. This week I chaired the annual EU-Western Balkans Ministerial Forum in Montenegro with recent events discussed with my counterparts and EU agencies and officials. It is critical that we work on a coordinated and joint response at EU level to these issues.”
O’Callaghan maintained that authorities would make every effort to identify those responsible for the disruption.
“Threats of this nature are completely unacceptable and every effort will be made to identify those responsible,” he said.
Several prominent media outlets were evacuated following the security alerts.
Evacuation orders were issued for personnel at the Irish Independent, as well as the Dublin headquarters of TodayFM and NewstalkFM. Sky News was similarly targeted by a security alert.
At state broadcaster RTÉ, employees gathered outside the headquarters in Donnybrook as gardaí searched the premises with sniffer dogs to look for explosives.
During a live broadcast, an RTÉ radio host announced that the station was sent an email threatening an explosion within 45 minutes.
In a statement, An Garda Síochána said officers were “aware of a threat made against media organisations here and in Europe”, adding that they were liaising with affected newsrooms.
Other senior government figures noted that the origin of the threats had yet to be determined.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin described the situation as “worrying” and told RTÉ that investigators had not yet established whether the threats originated from individuals or represented a coordinated attack.
“The gardaí, the defence forces, cyber and aviation authorities are working to establish who’s behind this, as are their European counterparts,” he said said.
“It just illustrates how relatively simple it can be to cause disruption and to undermine the normal operation of society through unconventional activities of this kind, which are designed to cause disruption, designed to cause fear and anxiety.”
Speaking to Cork 96FM, Tánaiste Simon Harris described the situation as a “very serious and evolving situation” and stressed that the culprits were still unknown.
Harris pointed out that recent scares had targeted airlines, adding that investigators were still attempting to determine who was responsible.
“Obviously this comes on the back of a number of bomb scares yesterday and in recent days in relation to airlines as well,” Harris said.
“I think it’s fair to say we don’t yet know who is responsible for what’s happening this morning.”
The threats against Irish media organisations followed widespread disruption to air travel on Thursday, when hoax bomb threats targeted 21 flights across Europe.
Those airline alerts affected multiple carriers, including Irish operators Ryanair and Aer Lingus.
Around 160 schools in Northern Ireland were also targeted by hoax bomb threats last month, with an email making references to jihad and apparent Islamic terrorist motives.