False Alarm event in Dublin, Donnybrook area, Ireland on Fri 6th November 2026

RTÉ and other media organisations around the country were evacuated this morning following a bomb threat.

The alarm was raised after an email was sent to the national broadcaster, as well as other media outlets across Ireland and Britain.

Staff were evacuated from the buildings on the Donnybrook campus in Dublin and gardaí were called to the scene, which has since been declared safe.

RTÉ moved to pre-recorded programmes as a precautionary measure, however RTÉ's Today with David McCullagh programme on Radio 1 remained on air from the broadcaster's roadcaster.

Garda sniffer dogs carried out searches of the buildings.

The broadcaster said the safety of its staff and personnel were paramount.

Mediahaus and Independent News Media also evacuated their offices on Talbot Street in Dublin for a time as a precautionary measure.

A spokesperson for Mediahaus Ireland said: "Like a number of other media outlets, the Irish Independent received threatening correspondence this morning."

"Our main offices in Dublin city centre were evacuated for a short time while security checks took place."

"We wish to thank An Garda Síochána for their assistance."

Virgin Media also received the threat but did not evacuate and continued to broadcast.

A spokesperson said: "Virgin Media Television received a security threat email that was widely circulated to multiple European media platforms."

"We followed our well established security protocols and continue to liaise with An Garda Síochána."

"We remained on air throughout and no evacuation took place."

Director General Kevin Bakhurst said: "An email was sent into RTÉ and other organisations about 8.33am. I received it 8.40, and we had quick conversations."

"I spoke to the deputy director general, one of my colleagues rang the gardaí."

"On the basis of the information we had, we decided that we wanted to put the safety of the staff first and evacuate the buildings."

Mr Bakhurst said the threat had caused "a lot of disruption" but added: "Luckily we have contingency plans in place - which we reviewed quite recently."

He said: "It's a disgraceful attack on the media, on free media, and unfortunately, probably where it comes from, they don't really appreciate the importance of free media."

In a statement, gardaí said they were "aware of a threat made against media organisations here and in Europe".

"An Garda Síochána has been liaising with the Irish media organisations, and the threats will be investigated."

Authorities working to 'establish who is responsible' - Govt

Irish authorities are working to "establish who is responsible" for "very serious" threats against media organisations, the Government has said.

In a statement, it said: "The threats made this morning against media organisations here are very serious."

"Hoax threats such as these cause fear, distress and disruption to people going about their daily lives and activities; they achieve no positive purpose whatsoever. It is not known yet who is responsible for these threats, whether it is individuals or a centralised or co-ordinated effort."

"However, these threats come on the heels of the ongoing disruption to aviation around Europe caused by similar threats, and it seems likely that this is a co-ordinated campaign of disruption."

The Government said An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces are in ongoing liaison with their European security counterparts and that every effort will be made to identify those responsible and to hold them to account.

The Government noted that gardaí had been aware of the risk of disruptive threats during Ireland's ongoing Presidency of the Council of European Union.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the threats to RTÉ and other media organisations around Ireland and Britain are "worrying" and the Government is taking the threat seriously.

Mr Martin said gardaí and the Defence Forces are working to establish who is behind this.

He said it has not yet been determined if the threats were made by an individual or a more coordinated group, but he said the Government would "go after this".

The Taoiseach said that the State has skilled experts now working to identify those responsible for this.

He said any organisation that receives threats should take it seriously and refer it to gardaí so that they could have a "picture of what's happening".

The threat purportedly comes from those behind a series of hoax bomb threats which affected at least 27 flights across Europe yesterday, as well as further alerts earlier in the week.

Some Aer Lingus and Ryanair flights were among those impacted.