Bomb threat made to home of Taoiseach Simon Harris

It is understood that Mr Harrris's wife and two young children were in the family home this evening when the anonymous call was made.

Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris speaking to the media. Picture: Leah Farrell/© RollingNews.ie

A bomb threat has been made to the home of Taoiseach Simon Harris while his wife and two young children were in the house.

Gardaí rushed to the Wicklow home of Mr Harrris at around 6pm on Wednesday after a sinister anonymous caller made the threat against the Taoiseach via a charity's crisis helpline.

The caller used a specific codeword when issuing the threat which prompted the charity to immediately contact gardaí who raised an official security alert.

Extensive searches were carried out in and around the Taoiseach's home but no devices were found and the incident was declared a sinister hoax.

The Taoiseach's wife and children were permitted to remain in the house and gardaí were continuing their investigations to identify the caller.

The Taoiseach has not commented on the threat.

It is the third sinister incident at the Taoiseach's home in the last three months, including two incidents where masked men protested outside his property.

Last week, two men aged in their 40s, and one in his 30s, were arrested under the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act by officers in the Wexford/Wicklow district as part of "ongoing investigations into the alleged harassment of an elected official", gardaí said.

All three men were detained at Garda stations in Co Wicklow under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 before being released without charge. 

Files are being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Mr Harris said that he could not comment on the arrests, but felt that the targeting of his or other politicians' homes was not legitimate.

"There is a distinction between protest and some of the carry-on that we see outside certain people's homes. 

"Protest is a fundamental part of democracy. Protesting does not equate to thuggery. I know the difference. I'm glad the guards know the difference," Mr Harris said.

Far-right protestors, waving tricolors, have engaged in some of the protests, demanding a closing of Irish borders to immigrants.

On May 2, the Taoiseach’s home was also targeted by anti-migrant demonstrators during his children’s bedtime – just a week after the home of Justice Minister Helen McEntee’s family was evacuated after her family home was the subject of a hoax bomb threat.

There has also been similar intimidation at the home of Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman in recent months while People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy discovered graffiti near his home which read “Paul Murphy RIP". 

In the April incident at Mr O'Gorman's home, placards and banners were stretched across his driveway gate, along his wall, and fastened to poles.