UPDATED: Staff at RTÉ and other major Irish media organisations evacuated following bomb threats
Staff at RTÉ, The Irish Independent, The Irish Mirror, Newstalk and Virgin Media have reportedly been evacuated
Staff at several major Irish media organisations have reportedly been evacuated following a series of security threats on Friday morning.
RTÉ’s headquarters in Donnybrook, Co Dublin, was evacuated earlier this morning following a bomb threat, with armed Gardaí attending the scene.
Staff at the Irish independent, the Irish Mirror, Newstalk and Virgin Media have also been evacuated following similar security alerts.
According to reports, the message claimed to have come from the same group behind a series of threats targeting aircraft across Europe in recent days, although no connection has been independently established.
The Irish Independent reported that a heavy Garda presence was at the scene, including members of the armed response unit.
The incident also caused disruption to RTÉ's broadcasting schedule, with RTÉ Radio One reportedly replacing its scheduled Today with David McCullagh programme with prerecorded music.
According to TheJournal.ie, staff were setting up temporary radio equipment in the campus canteen in an effort to resume broadcasting while awaiting permission to return to the studios.
Morning Ireland presenter Sarah McInerney also confirmed the evacuation in an Instagram Story, revealing that she was among those forced to leave the building following the threat.
In the story she said, “So I’m standing outside RTÉ and we’ve just come off air on Morning Ireland, and the whole building has been evacuated because there has been a bomb threat.”
In the next story, she says that “there’s a general sense that the threat is almost certainly a hoax,” adding that the threat has gone out to a number of organisations in Ireland and possibly Europe.
The Irish Independent has also reported that other media organisations in Ireland and the UK received identical threats on Friday morning.
However, the identities of those organisations have not yet been confirmed.
The security alert comes amid a series of bomb threats targeting flights across Europe this week, including services operating from Dublin Airport.
Several flights have been disrupted in recent days following security alerts, with aircraft diverted and emergency services responding to reported threats.
The situation remains ongoing.