Stand-off continues at Roscrea home

A stand-off between gardaí and a man believed to have threatened to blow up his home with a home-made bomb was continuing today.

Army bomb experts remain on stand-by in Roscrea, Co Tipperary, as trained negotiators prepare to resume talking to the man by telephone this morning.

Dozens of residents had to be evacuated from their homes at lunchtime yesterday when officers were called to the man’s home in Rosemary Street and discovered a scene they described as not normal in a domestic setting.

The street, which is also home to several businesses, which were forced to close yesterday, remains cordoned off today.

Gardaí said the man, in his 50s and named locally as Jim Hourigan, had raised a number of issues of a personal nature during telephone contact.

Neighbours said he is a separated father of three grown-up children and had lost his livelihood at a meat factory two years ago after falling from a ladder and breaking his arm.

He is originally from outside Limerick city and moved to the town just four years ago, they said.

Army bomb experts based at the Curragh, Co Kildare, were called in because of fears the former electrician had fashioned a home-made bomb from gas cylinders.

Former minister for defence and local TD Michael Smith, who was at the scene, said last night he couldn’t confirm talk among neighbours that the man had doused himself in petrol and was threatening to ignite himself and the gas canisters.

“He appears to have certain pieces of equipment which would lead one to the view that it could be harmful but there is no proof of that,” he said.