Third of bomb disposal call-outs for hoaxes

About one third of all bomb disposal call-outs are to examine a hoax device, Defence Minister Willie O’Dea said tonight.

Mr O’Dea said a worrying trend was developing and he had raised the issue with the Justice Minister.

Some 58 of the 180 call-outs received by the Defence Force’s Explosives Ordnance Disposal unit in 2008 turned out to be hoaxes.

So far in 2009, ten of the 32 devices examined were not viable and posed no risk.

Mr O’Dea said: “Certainly this is worrying. But the EOD gets the request from the gardaí and they have to act on that.

“Who or what is behind the hoaxes is a matter for the Garda.”

Labour’s defence spokesman Brian O’Shea said a lot of time and money was being wasted by call-outs to examine hoax devices.

“This is a developing trend and a very unwelcome one,” he explained.

“There seems to be a deliberate pattern of hoax devices being planted for a particular reason.”