Gun threat made to office of Sinn Féin TD 

A threat of gun violence has been made to the office of Sinn Féin TD Martin Kenny.

A threat of gun violence was made to the office of Sinn Féin's Justice spokesman Martin Kenny today.

It is understood the TD’s office was contacted by phone by a caller who said they were on their way to Leinster House with a firearm.

The incident has been referred to An Garda Síochána.

With the Dáil in recess, very few TDs are present and Mr Kenny was not in the complex at the time of the call.

The threat was issued to a member of his staff who was shaken up by the call.

The incident occurred shortly after 11am.

A Sinn Féin spokeswoman told the Irish Examiner: "Martin Kenny's office received a call, which contained a threat to shoot a Garda and the same person issued a threat against Leinster House. We alerted the Gardaí and the Oireachtas of this threat. 

"There was no threat against a named Sinn Féin TD but obviously all threats need to be treated seriously by the Gardaí. It is now in their hands."

It's understood the caller left their details with the staff member. The call was made to the TD's Leinster House office and was answered by a parliamentary assistant.

Last week, Taoiseach Micheál Martin called for a review into the security of TDs amid concerns that threats and violence against politicians are on the rise internationally, following the fatal stabbing of British Tory MP David Amess

Two years ago, Martin Kenny was the victim of an arson attack outside his house in Ballinamore, Leitrim. His car was burned in the early hours of the morning.

Mr Kenny had also received a death threat in recent days after speaking out against a “far-right ideology that is being peddled in this country” about asylum seekers.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said he was “horrified” to hear of the threat, and said there is a balance to be found regarding TD’s security.

“I’m horrified to hear that threat was made to another Oireachtas member,” he said.

“Unfortunately these things happen and they have become a little bit too frequent in politics. We shouldn't become used to them because it can be easy to become de-sensitised to these things but that doesn't make them right.

“I would just hate us to get to the place where we become a country where ministers and politicians go around in a security bubble and I see that happen in other countries. We don't want to create that sort of disconnect between the public and politicians. We just need to get that balance right.”