A repeat offender, already serving a jail term for serious crimes, was arrested on Friday on suspicion he was responsible for a bomb threat at the family home of Taoiseach Simon Harris in Co Wicklow.
The fact a serving prisoner was involved, revealed in The Irish Times in the days after the incident, has been a main line of inquiry for the Garda investigation team since the investigation began late last month.
The call warning of a bomb at the Harris residence in Greystones was made to the Samaritans. A Garda search team was dispatched to Mr Harris’s home, though nothing was found and his wife and young children remained in the property.
Gardaí suspected from the outset that a middle aged prisoner who is now permitted access to the Samaritans line from his own cell, because of previous serious incidents, was involved. The suspicion was he was able to use another phone in the prison to call the Samaritans.
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In reply to queries, Garda Headquarters confirmed a man in his 50s had been arrested on Friday by gardaí “investigating threats against an elected representative in June.
“The male in his 50s is currently detained under section 4 Criminal Justice Act, 1984, at a Garda station in the Garda Eastern Region,” it added. “An Garda Síochána is not providing any further information at this time.”
An anonymous caller rang a Samaritans helpline, shortly before 6pm on Friday, June 26th, and claimed there was an explosive device at the Harris family home. The alarm was immediately raised by the organisation.
Mr Harris, who was in the Dáil in the evening of the incident, said at the time the bomb hoax was intended to “intimidate and upset” his family, describing the events as an “unacceptable situation”.
“I don’t really wish to comment on it other than to say obviously this is clearly unacceptable situation. Even the word hoax I’m not sure is a fair word as I’ve no doubt these things are done to intimidate and upset. I have young children, I have a wife,” he said.
Such threats represented “a really unacceptable situation”, Mr Harris said, adding when people turn up outside his house it should not be described in media reports as a “protest”.
It is the second time a member of the current Cabinet has been targeted in that way. Minister for Justice Helen McEntee and her family have been targeted several times with threats, including false claims about explosive devices, that forced the evacuation of their home.
In March a convicted rapist who made a hoax bomb threat to Ms McEntee’s home, from the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise, was convicted and sentenced to two additional years in prison.
Separately gardaí are also currently investigating threats against Mr Harris’s family made over Instagram last weekend.
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