Anti-terrorism unit helping gardaí find suspect behind bomb and shooting threats to Carlow schools

It is not clear if the person behind the emails, which threatened either bomb attacks or a mass shooting on the 20 primary schools, is based in Ireland or abroad. Picture: Larry Cummins

Gardaí are thought to be making some progress in their investigation into email threats sent to 20 primary schools in Carlow on Wednesday morning.

The focus of garda inquiries has been on trying to identify the suspect behind the emails, which threatened bomb attacks or mass shootings at the schools.

It is not clear if the person is based in Ireland or abroad, but early signs of progress might suggest the source may be in Ireland.

The emails were sent from an IP (internet) address in the US, but sources said routing internet addresses through other countries is relatively easily done.

Given the scale of the threats, affecting 20 schools simultaneously, gardaí did not believe there was any credibility to them. However, they treated the matter seriously.

Carlow gardaí are being assisted in their investigations by the Special Detective Unit — the organisation’s anti-terrorism section.

Sources said this does not mean there is a suspected terrorist motive behind the emails, rather that such assistance is common where the motive needs to be clarified.

Given the absence of any message in the emails or requests for money, or some other action, to prevent the supposed threat from being carried out, gardaí are not thought to suspect the incident as terrorist or politically motivated.

Potential prank or dare

This leaves gardaí to inquire if the motive is a prank or some sort of dare or test by an online network to an individual. They will also examine if it is an attempted cyber incident.

Gardaí will not, at this stage, rule out the possibility the actions are that of a hostile state or an actor working on their behalf — not least because Ireland assumes the EU presidency on 1 July.

Sources stress there is nothing to suggest this could be the case. In addition, any progress in making such a link would typically take a long time if ever.

Gardaí have described the incident as “very strange”, but said they were determined to fully investigate it.

It comes a little over a week after threatening emails were sent to six schools in Co Antrim.

The PSNI did not consider those threats to be “credible”, and launched a “malicious communications investigation” in relation to the email that was also sent to multiple businesses in the county.

In February 2025, an email threatening shootings was sent to a number of schools in Co Clare. The email contained details of a named individual in Co Clare and, following garda inquiries, it was declared a hoax.

In October 2023, schools across Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia were bombarded with hundreds of email bomb threats, sent by a server within the EU, but security services suspected a hostile state.

In May and September 2024, hundreds of schools in Slovakia were repeatedly targeted by bomb threats sent via email. Many emails were traced to addresses hosted on Russian domains.