Irish media outlets evacuated after receiving threats

A number of high-profile Irish media organisations, including Ireland’s public service broadcaster RTÉ, have been evacuated after threats were made against them.

An RTÉ radio presenter told listeners that the organisation had received an email warning that a “bomb was going to go off within 45 minutes”.

Staff at the Irish Independent newspaper and the Dublin offices of radio stations NewstalkFM and TodayFM also had to leave their buildings for a short time.

In a statement, gardaí (Irish police) said they were “aware of a threat made against media organisations here and in Europe”.

They added they were liaising with the affected Irish media organisations and the threats would be investigated.

The Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Micheál Martin described situation as “worrying” and added his government’s first priority was the safety of the Irish public.

“Yesterday, there appeared to be coordinated efforts to disrupt air travel,” he said, following hoax bomb threats which affected 21 flights across Ireland and Europe.

He told RTÉ it was not yet known if the threats had come from individuals or if it was a “coordinated attack” but said they were being taken seriously.

“The gardaí, the defence forces, cyber and aviation authorities are working to establish who’s behind this, as are their European counterparts,” Martin said.

Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) Simon Harris said it was a “very serious and evolving situation”.

“Obviously this comes on the back of a number of bomb scares yesterday and in recent days in relation to airlines as well,” he told Cork 96FM.

“I think it’s fair to say we don’t yet know who is responsible for what’s happening this morning,” Harris added.

He said Irish authorities and cyber experts would be “liaising as appropriate with European counterparts” to identify the culprits.

Dozens of RTÉ staff were pictured gathered outside the broadcaster’s headquarters in Donnybrook earlier as gardaí conducted searches.

Live radio shows were briefly interrupted as the broadcaster switched to pre-recorded programmes during the evacuation.

However, NewstalkFM’s presenters have since returned to their microphones.

“Bauer Media offices were evacuated this morning after receiving a hoax bomb threat,” NewstalkFM posted on X.

“We can report that everyone is safe and we are back on air as normal.”