Gardaí investigate explosion in Dublin

GARDAÍ ARE investigating a small explosion that took place outside a house in Rathfarnham, south Dublin, at the weekend.

The explosion took place after a device was placed in the garden of a home on Harold’s Grange Road on Saturday night or Sunday morning.

A Garda spokesman said there was nobody in the house at the time, and there were no injuries. Gardaí at Rathfarnham station were alerted at 10am on Sunday when the owner of the house returned home. A front window was broken by the blast.

A Defence Forces spokesman said its bomb disposal unit assisted gardaí by carrying out analysis of the device on Sunday afternoon.

In a second incident, meanwhile, the army bomb disposal team removed a hand-grenade from waste ground in Inchicore in south Dublin city yesterday evening.

The Defence Forces spokesman said the bomb squad was called to the scene at Bulfin Road by the Garda. They arrived at 5.15pm and gave the all-clear an hour later. The grenade was removed for destruction and there were no injuries or arrests reported.

The incidents follow the publication last month of figures showing an increase in the criminal use of explosive devices this year.

Fine Gael justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan, who obtained the figures, said that between January and July, 19 viable devices were dealt with, compared to eight in the same period last year.

The number of hoax devices detected by the authorities has also risen, from 33 between January and July last year to 45 in the same period this year.

“At a time when gardaí are being asked to implement new legislation with reduced resources, this doubling in the number of explosive devices hitting our streets gives grave cause for concern,” Mr Flanagan said.

Last month, gardaí found eight viable pipe bombs during an intelligence-led search operation in Longford town. Two men were arrested.