Town centre sealed off after device found

A suspicious object that forced parts of Clonmel town centre to be sealed off today was a viable explosive device, the Army confirmed tonight.

The Army’s bomb disposal team made the object safe earlier this afternoon.

The specialists were called in after a member of the public brought the device to Clonmel Garda station after finding it at his home this morning.

A Defence Forces spokesman said the alert lasted around three hours.

“The Army bomb disposal team arrived on scene at 11.30am and on examination of the device discovered it to be a viable improvised explosive device,” he said.

“The device was made safe at the scene and the remains were handed over to the gardaí for forensic examination. The scene was declared safe at 2.20pm.”

The Defence Forces dealt with 67 viable improvised explosive devices last year and deployed Army bomb disposal teams 200 times.

Thirty viable improvised explosive devices have been dealt with so far in 2010.