BOMB SCARE AT McENTEE HOME
Justice Minister’s husband and children had to be evacuated as the gardaí regarded threats with ‘the utmost seriousness’
JUSTICE Minister Helen McEntee’s young family had to be evacuated from their home this week after a late-night bomb threat, the Irish Daily Mail can reveal.
Ms McEntee herself was not at home when the two phoned threats were made, but her husband and two young children were.
There were two separate phone calls, and after the second warning was made to the Samaritans charity shortly before midnight, gardaí decided to remove Minister McEntee’s husband and children from the property.
The couple’s two boys are both under the age of three.
Gardaí and Ms McEntee’s protection team regarded the threats with ‘the utmost seriousness’, a security source told the Mail last night.
It is understood that Ms McEntee had
been at the Dáil on the night in question. A security source told the Mail last night: ‘Last week tensions were heightened with anti-immigration protests that eventually led to disturbances in another part of the country, so we didn’t know at first if this was connected.’
They added: ‘With threats against politicians and attacks on politicians on the increase, of course, Garda vigilance is heightened.
‘But there are protocols around bomb threats or any serious threat to ministers, and it was decided it was necessary to exercise the caution of evacuating the family home.’
Gardaí are currently investigating the incident at the family’s home in Co. Meath.
A thorough search was conducted at Ms McEntee’s home and it is not believed that any explosive device was found.
‘Any person found to have been connected to such serious threats will face a long custodial sentence,’ said a security source.
They also said putting anyone ‘in fear of their life’ is a ‘very grave matter’.
‘There does not appear to have been any dangerous devices, but as anyone can imagine, evacuating two children of such a young age and their father and putting such terror on a family is appalling,’ the source added.
This is not the first time there have been threats made to Ms McEntee’s home.
A convicted rapist made a hoax bomb threat to the minister’s house from the Midlands Prison two years ago, and was only last month told he would spend an additional two years in prison for the offence.
Following a trial, Michael Murray, 54, formerly of Seafield Road, Killiney, Dublin, was found guilty of one count of knowingly making a false report giving rise to an apprehension for the safety of someone else while he was imprisoned in the Midlands Prison, Portlaoise, on March 7, 2021.
Murray has 40 previous convictions for offences including rape, sexual assault, harassment, abduction of a child, false imprisonment, threats to kill, burglary and theft.
In 2013, he was convicted of abducting a mother and her four-year-old son and repeatedly raping the woman for hours. Murray received a sentence of 19 years’ imprisonment over this incident.
He was then sentenced to 16 further years in prison for a campaign of harassment and death threats directed at his victim and the prosecuting lawyers in the trial – with the judge calling his actions an ‘unprecedented and deliberate’ abuse of process.
In sentencing the accused at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Patricia Ryan handed Murray a two-year prison sentence to run consecutively to one he is currently serving.
The Mail understands there have been discussions at the highest levels of Government in recent days about the security of politicians.
Just over a week ago, Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman’s home was set upon by protesters, who hung erected on his property that read, ‘Close the borders’ and, ‘Minister O’Gorman hates children’. Several people have been before the courts for threats or harassment of politicians in recent years.
A bench warrant was issued for a 57-year-old man for making threatening calls to former minister Ciarán Cannon late last year.
Another man is facing charges for allegedly throwing faeces at Mr Cannon and Minister Anne Rabbitte at an event in Galway.
Also, a woman was jailed in
‘A very grave matter’
Taoiseach spoke of terror
2022 after mounting a campaign of harassment against former Sinn Féin TD Jonathan O’Brien.
Full armed security was returned to all Cabinet ministers after a review conducted by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris. It is understood the new Taoiseach, Simon Harris, who spoke last week about the terror his family has suffered over protests at his own home, is becoming increasingly concerned about politicians’ safety.
He has spoken to Commissioner Harris about public order and law and order, and it is also understood he discussed his concern about the safety of politicians.
Last week, our sister paper The Irish Mail on Sunday revealed that the Government will back legislation brought forward by Senator Malcolm Byrne to ban protests outside the private homes of individuals, including politicians.