Ireland hit with more bomb threats as security preparations ramp up for EU summit

MORE HOAX BOMB threats were received today and Monday, Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly has said, warning that An Garda Síochána anticipates further threats in the coming days ahead of the European Political Community summit on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters at a security briefing today, Kelly said the police force believes the threats are coming from outside Ireland and are an attempt to “sow discord” and “destabilise our democracies”.

Kelly said An Garda Síochána are working with international security partners, including Europol, to find out who is behind the threats. 

Around 50 European leaders, heads of state and international organisations will attend Thursday’s summit, followed by an informal meeting of EU leaders on Friday, under the largest security operation in the State’s history.

The meetings come just days after a series of bomb threats against airlines and media organisations. 

Kelly said the coming days will be “challenging”, but said he is “very confident” the force will be able to deal with any risk.

“We have spent a lot of time undertaking a threat and risk assessment for this whole event. There’s a whole myriad of threats that we are looking at, from hybrid to public order to general interference,” he said.

“I’m confident we have put preparations in place for all of this.”

As part of the security operation, members of An Garda Síochána will carry out over 15,000 12-hour tours of duty between today and Friday, while international security partners will also support the security operation.

Partners from the High Risk Security Network in Latvia and Portugal are providing high-level specialist support services such as counter-drone policing.

Airspace restrictions are also in place, while An Garda Síochána said the most advanced counter-drone systems will be in place to detect, track, identify and mitigate unauthorised or hostile drone activity.

An Garda Síochána is advising people in affected areas of Dublin to plan their day, leave extra time for their journeys and expect delays as four days of road closures and transport disruption begin.

Kelly said: “We have put in place a traffic plan that seeks to minimise disruption during the events. However, given that we will be escorting 50 heads of state and government across the city at different times, we do expect that there will be disruption to traffic in the city at various times across Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.”

Over 100 advanced-escort-trained garda motorcyclists and over 200 motorcycle security escorts deployed during the event, as well as over 200 members of An Garda Síochána trained search teams and over 500 Public Order gardaí and over 500 armed tactical gardaí.

Members of the Public Order Unit have been provided with new flame-retardant, protective suits and body armour, with over 500 Public Order gardaí on duty each day on Thursday and Friday.

A temporary maritime exclusion zone and associated outer control area will be in operation for the River Liffey and along Dublin City Coast from Wednesday until Friday.