RTÉ’s Donnybrook campus in Dublin was evacuated this morning after the national broadcaster received an emailed bomb threat, knocking live radio off air and sending staff out onto the street. The RTÉ bomb threat comes at the end of a week in which hoax threats have disrupted more than 30 flights across Europe, including Aer Lingus and Ryanair services to and from Dublin, and just days before the largest security operation the State has ever mounted.
This is a developing story and we’ll update it as gardaí and RTÉ confirm more.
What happened at RTÉ this morning
The alarm was raised after an email was sent to RTÉ this morning, with the same threat also landing with scores of other media outlets across Ireland and Britain. Presenters and staff were cleared from the buildings on the Montrose campus, and gardaí, including members of the Armed Response Unit, are at the scene while the buildings are searched, according to RTÉ’s own report on the Donnybrook evacuation.
RTÉ Radio 1 dropped out mid-air during Morning Ireland, and the broadcaster has since moved to pre-recorded programmes as a precaution. Morning Ireland presenter Sarah McInerney confirmed on Instagram that she was among those evacuated. RTÉ has said the safety of its staff is paramount and that normal services will resume as soon as possible after consultation with gardaí.
In a statement, gardaí said they are “aware of a threat made against media organisations here and in Europe” and confirmed the threats will be investigated. The RTÉ security alert is believed to be a hoax, but there’s no confirmation yet of any device being found, any arrests, or when staff will be back inside.
The link to the Aer Lingus and Ryanair bomb hoaxes
The message sent to RTÉ reportedly claimed to come from the same group behind this week’s threats against flights across Europe, and that campaign has been relentless. On Tuesday, two Ryanair flights from Dublin were searched after bomb hoaxes, one in Rome and one in Sofia. On Thursday a second wave hit almost 30 flights across ten airlines, including Ryanair, Aer Lingus, Wizz Air, Finnair and easyJet. Every aircraft landed safely and searches found nothing suspicious.
The most dramatic Irish incident involved an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome, which was diverted to the Évreux military air base in France. French prosecutors have since opened an investigation into the Aer Lingus pilot over the bomb threat diversion, following allegations he initially refused to land at the military base in favour of a civilian airport. Closer to home, Cork Airport received an anonymous phone threat that delayed a Ryanair arrival from London Stansted.
Who is behind the bomb threats?
Nobody knows for certain, and no European government has named a culprit. Threat emails sent to Italian airports were signed by “fighters of the Male State”, a misogynist movement founded in Russia in 2016 that a Russian court banned as extremist in 2021 and which later backed the war in Ukraine. Anyone can put any name on an email, so that signature proves very little on its own.
Aviation security analysts have been less cautious. The head of aviation security group Dyami has suggested saboteurs acting on behalf of the Russian state could be responsible, noting that many of the affected countries support Ukraine. European authorities have linked a broader rise in hybrid attacks to both Russia and Iran, and both countries deny it.
This is speculation on our part, but the pattern is hard to ignore. A campaign that ties up airports, scrambles fighter jets and now takes the national broadcaster off air, all in the days before Dublin hosts around 50 European leaders, looks far more like a coordinated psychological operation designed to rattle governments than the work of a lone prankster. One aviation cybersecurity chief has said hoaxes like these can serve both to disrupt operations and to observe how airlines, airports and authorities respond. With Ireland holding the EU presidency, there are few better weeks to test how the State reacts under pressure.
Why next week’s EU summit in Dublin matters
Ireland hosts two EU presidency meetings in Dublin from 10 to 13 November, headlined by the European Political Community summit at the Convention Centre on Thursday 12 November. It’s the largest gathering of heads of state and government Ireland has ever hosted. Gardaí have described it as the largest policing and security operation in the history of the State, and chief Garda spokesperson Superintendent Liam Geraghty said it would be bigger than a US presidential visit. The presidency itself has warned of “unprecedented security considerations” for people living, working and travelling around the venues.
That operation also coincides with rank-and-file gardaí preparing to work to rule from 10 to 14 November as part of GRA industrial action, with talks ongoing to make sure the security operation goes ahead. Against that backdrop, a hoax that empties RTÉ on a Friday morning won’t be shrugged off at Garda HQ.
If you’re heading into Dublin city, Dublin Airport or Dublin Port next week, expect major and prolonged traffic disruption from Tuesday to Friday.
Featured image courtesy of RTE News.
