Broadcasters back on air as hoax threats deemed 'coordinated campaign of disruption'

Bomb threats were sent to RTÉ earlier this morning, and all the main buildings at the campus were evacuated. 

Gardaí are now at the site and are investigating. 

As news of the threat to the national broadcaster emerged, sources confirmed threats were also sent to the Irish Independent and Bauer Media, the group that controls Newstalk and Today FM. 

RTE Radio 1 has been playing music since its regular progamming was taken off air, with a continuity announcer telling listeners efforts were being made to resume scheduling. 

Newstalk’s Claire Byrne Show was also off air, and switched to a playback of a ‘best of’, but the presenter has now resumed her show. 

RTÉ have just issued this statement: 

“RTÉ, along with a range of media organisations, received a threat this morning. In line with our security and safety protocols, the campus has been evacuated and some services are affected. Gardaí are on site in Donnybrook.”

Returning to air this morning Claire Byrne told listeners: 

“Everybody left. We were advised that we could return to the building, and that that warning was a hoax. So apologies for the interruption. It was beyond our control.

“We wanted to make sure that everybody was safe and sound. But I’m happy to say that we are back on air.”

It’s understood RTÉ Radio 1 is also due to recommence broadcasting from the Roadcaster mobile studio parked outside the broadcaster’s HQ. 

Our Political Editor Christina Finn is due to be a guest on The Gathering on David McCullagh’s show shortly. 

She sent us this pic of the scene at RTÉ, where the production team have now decamped to the 2FM Roadcaster. 

Christina Finn

Statement in from Garda Press Office: 

“An Garda Síochána is 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.”

Yesterday, Defence Minister Helen McEntee described this week’s wave of hoax bomb threats against European flights as “extremely concerning”, ahead of Ireland hosting 55 heads of state next week.

At least 27 flights were targeted yesterday, following threats against around 10 flights on Tuesday.

Among yesterday’s affected services was Aer Lingus flight EI402 from Dublin to Rome, which landed safely at Évreux military air base in France after being escorted by fighter jets. Cork Airport also received an anonymous telephone threat concerning a specific flight. Nothing of concern was found and that service resumed operations after a 90-minute delay.

All affected flights across Europe landed safely and no bombs were found. Authorities are investigating who is responsible and whether the threats are connected.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, McEntee said the Defence Forces and gardaí were preparing to ensure the safety of those attending next Thursday’s European Political Community summit in Dublin.

“Everything that needs to be done, and should be done, will be done, to ensure their security and safety,” McEntee said, adding that gardaí would work with services across the EU to identify those behind the threats. 

David McCullagh is now back on air on Radio 1. 

“Irish society is being discommoded,” the current affairs host told listeners as his broadcast began. 

Marty Whelan, who had been evacuated from his Lyric FM studio along with the rest of the RTÉ staff this morning, made a surprise appearance as the first guest on the show. 

“Time for my bed,” Whelan, said, tongue-in-cheek.

He shared that he had been forced to leave his jacket and keys in the studio building in Montrose as he was ushered out.

“It is a scary moment. In all the years I’ve been here, I’ve never come across this ever.”

McCullagh just said about the people who did this:

“Presumably they might feel that they have achieved their aims as we’re sitting in the Roadcaster.

“But we’re on air, up yours whoever you are.”

It’s understood the threat sent to RTÉ claimed to be from the same group that were behind the threats to airlines earlier this week. 

It referred to European authorities “incompetent fools” and warned of further action to come. 

Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said authorities will pursue those responsible for the threats causing today’s disruption, but declined to speculate on whether Russia was involved.

Speaking to David McCullagh via phone, Martin said it had not yet been established whether individuals or a coordinated operation were responsible.

“However, we will go after this to identify who’s responsible and to hold them accountable,” Martin said.

Asked about security ahead of next week’s European Political Community summit in Dublin, he said agencies had been preparing for such risks since before Ireland’s EU presidency.

“The security stakes are much higher in this period of time than they have been for a long time in Europe.”

Martin said any threats received should be taken seriously and that gardaí should be contacted over them. Asked directly about possible Russian involvement, he said:

“I’m not going to make any comment at the stage as to who is responsible.”

Technical limitations in the mobile studio this morning meant the call was taken on the speaker of a mobile phone placed close to the microphone, rather than the line being put through the broadcast desk. 

RTÉ Radio 1

Fianna Fáil TD Cathal Crowe has said that Dublin’s hosting of a major EU summit next week should not be “derailed” by hoax threats

Speaking on Newstalk FM shortly after it returned to the airwaves, Crowe said the threats are “designed to be disruptive, I would say, and nothing else”.

“But yet, a hoax isn’t a hoax until proven to be so,” he said, adding that anyone working in a building that has received a threat should be “prudent” about following safety advice.

Political Editor Christina Finn reporting from outside RTÉ following the evacuation of the buildings.

The broadcaster remains evacuated from its main studios but is back on air through back-up channels.

Christina Finn, Political Editor at The Journal, reports from RTÉ after bomb threats were received earlier this morning, prompting the evacuation of all main buildings on the campus. The offices housing Newstalk and Today FM in Dublin were also evacuated following bomb threats. https://t.co/PcsDdp14bo

— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) November 6, 2026

Our News Correspondent Niall O’Connor says sources with knowledge of the national security apparatus are telling him that while it is not confirmed that Russia is behind today’s threats, they are following similar hybrid behaviours. 

Such actions are also referred to as ‘grey zone’ attacks – deliberate actions that are also deniable by whoever is behind them. 

The sources said that while it may or may not be Russian proxy operations, they do believe the threats are being issued to create disruption ahead of next week’s major EU-led summits.

Earlier this week, the UK Parliament released a briefing warning that Russia was alleged to be conducting a campaign of hybrid warfare across Europe.

“Russia’s campaign of instability is considered by NATO and several European intelligence agencies to be escalating,” the report read, noting the increased use of proxies — non-state groups that carry out these attacks to give the Kremlin deniability.

Reporters and staff at the Irish Independent offices on Talbot Street in Dublin were temporarily evacuated this morning too, having received a similar emailed bomb threat.

It is understood the threat has been deemed a hoax.

Irish Independent, RTÉ and Newstalk among Irish media organisations evacuated after wave of bomb threats https://t.co/YM2LlT3LYe

— Irish Independent (@Independent_ie) November 6, 2026

At around 10.45am, David McCullagh told listeners that RTÉ Radio 1 is simulcasting on RTE 2FM now too.

“So if you tuned into 2FM, I’m afraid you are listening to Today with David McCullagh,” he said.

A moment later he added: “Don’t know what happened to Lyric actually. Maybe they’re still on air.”

He would be correct, anyone tuning into RTÉ Lyric FM will be met with the station’s usual classical offering. Although, it appears to be a pre-record. 

Bomb threats made to Irish media organisations this morning are an “attempted attack on press freedom,” National Union of Journalists (NUJ) secretary Séamus Dooley said.

Dooley was speaking to David McCullagh on RTÉ following the campus evacuation.

Referring to the threats as “deeply disturbing”, Dooley said an attack on any media, but particularly public service broadcasting, “is an attack on democracy itself”.

He commended McCullagh and RTÉ staff for their quick response to the threat.

There is a need for contingency plans for media outlets in the case of such events, Dooley added, “because we can expect this to happen again”.

Issues with Dooley’s phone line left the interview cut short. “As if we didn’t have enough problems,” McCullagh quipped.

Political Correspondent Jane Matthews writes:

Just to put today’s bomb hoaxes in context, they come as Ireland is preparing to host the biggest diplomatic event in the history of the State next week.

On Thursday 12 November, around 50 political leaders will descend on Dublin for a meeting of the European Political Community (EPC).

The meeting, which will take place in Dublin’s Convention Centre, is the big set piece of Ireland’s six-month EU presidency, which began back in July.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin will host a dinner for visiting leaders in the National Gallery of Ireland on Thursday night.

This will be followed by an informal meeting of EU heads of state or government on Friday, also in the Convention Centre on North Wall Quay.

The security surrounding this event will be colossal, with a massive operation throughout Dublin City next week.

Security issues surrounding these big events are not unusual.

Ahead of Denmark hosting the EPC summit in Copenhagen last October, the country experienced what were thought to be hybrid attacks.

A number of Danish airports, including two used by the military and Copenhagen Airport, were forced to shut down after sightings of suspected drones.

At the time, Danish ministers said the country had been hit with a “systematic” and “professional” hybrid attack, with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen describing the incidents as the most serious hybrid attacks on the country’s critical infrastructure to date.

An investigation by Danish police months later found no evidence to prove that the flying objects that shut down Copenhagen Airport were drones. However, they said they also could not rule out the possibility that there had been ​drone activity.

A government statement has described the hoax threats received this morning as “very serious”.

Gardaí were alerted, the statement said, “and immediately took the precautionary actions that were necessary in co-operation with those who have been targeted”.

The statement adds:

“It is important to emphasise that the first concern in incidents such as these must be the safety and security of the people who are affected.

“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 yet known who is responsible, whether it is individuals or a centralised or co-ordinated effort, the government statement says. 

“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 Gardaí, working in cooperation with the Defence Forces, and our cyber and aviation authorities, are working to establish who is responsible.

“Gardaí and the Defence Forces are in ongoing liaison with their European security counterparts. Every effort will be made to identify those responsible and to hold them to account.

“The main ⁠priority, however, is to ensure that people are kept safe, despite the unavoidable and unwelcome disruption that this may cause.

“The Gardaí have been alive to the risk of disruptive threats such as these in the context of planning for EU Presidency events and are exercising the relevant protocols in response.”

We’re going to end our live coverage of the bomb threats here. 

Stay across The Journal throughout the day for further reporting. 

News Correspondent Niall O’Connor is currently working on a wider piece about what we know about who might be behind the threats (as mentioned earlier in this liveblog, sources have said that while it may or may not be Russian proxy operators, it’s believed the threats are being issued to create disruption ahead of next week’s major EU-led summits).

Political Editor Christina Finn will be at the Fine Gael ard fheis in Cork this afternoon, where we’ll likely hear more from Tánaiste Simon Harris and Defence Minister Helen McEntee. 

I am off to get a coffee.