Shortly before the European summit meeting: Bomb warnings trigger chaos in Ireland

Ireland's Council Presidency of the European Union is overshadowed by massive bomb threats: Immediately before the two summits in Dublin, threats of attacks in Ireland, Great Britain and Italy shocked schools and the media. Hundreds of educational institutions were evacuated.

47 heads of state and government are meeting in Dublin for the summit of the European Political Community and those of the EU member states on Friday. That's why the security forces on the Emerald Isle are on high alert anyway.

Numerous schools in Ireland were evacuated after bomb threats, although Education Minister Hildegarde Naughton said that the police did not consider the threat to be credible and that there was no reason to evacuate the schools. Some schools had informed parents that there was no danger, but this added to the chaos because worried parents still picked up their children from schools.

In Italy, at least 300 schools were also evacuated as a precautionary measure on Wednesday after 6,300 received similar bomb threats via email. “According to the checks carried out so far, there are no indications that would indicate a concrete danger,” said Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Italy.

The Reuters news agency was able to view a copy of the threatening email received in Italy. It was addressed to “Mikhail Andropov, leader of Vilayat Misoginistan.” The same name also appeared in bomb threats sent by email to TV newsrooms in Ireland and Bulgaria last Friday. The email sent to the schools also contained a threat against Meloni. However, the head of government stated that there was no danger.

In addition to schools, numerous media outlets in Ireland, Britain and other European countries also received bomb threats, including Irish public broadcaster RTÉ, Journal magazine, Reuters, the Guardian, BBC, Sky News and others.

RTÉ director-general Kevin Bakhurst said: “The police recommendation was very clear – namely not to take any further action.” However, when RTÉ received a similar threat last week, the broadcaster evacuated its premises in Donnybrook, south Dublin. The programs were interrupted and some radio programs temporarily stopped broadcasting completely.

The police were upset about this. Officials believed that a national broadcaster's decision to virtually halt live broadcasts had caused unnecessary panic across the country, although the threat was not specifically aimed at RTÉ.

The largest security operation in the country's history is currently underway in Ireland. The Republic took over the EU Council Presidency in July, and the last and biggest events are taking place this week. On Monday evening, PC9 planes practiced intercepting drones, streets in Dublin's city center began to be closed on Tuesday, and large parts of the city are now paralyzed on Thursday and Friday.

The incidents are part of a series of threats and cyberattacks across Europe on supermarket refrigeration systems, media, blood banks and air traffic. Russia is believed to be waging a campaign to disrupt everyday life in European countries that support Ukraine. (with Reuters and AFP)