The security of Limerick prison officers living in Clare is to be reviewed following yesterday's discovery of a hoax bomb outside the home of a warden living in Ennis.
The man is the third prison officer from Limerick Prison to be subjected to intimidatory attacks. Last week, security was tightened for all prison staff living around Limerick following the petrol-bombing of a car and the discovery of a hoax bomb at the home of a city-based prison officer.
The attacks were discussed in Limerick yesterday by the prison governor, Mr Pat Laffan, and senior officials from the Prisons Service.
The latest hoax package was left on the bonnet of the prison officer's car in Ennis. He alerted the gardaí after seeing the device as he prepared to drive to work at 6.50 a.m. It was declared safe a number of hours later by an Army bomb disposal team.
Supt John Kerin, of Ennis Garda station, said that the package, which had wires protruding from it, had been sent to the ballistics section of the Garda Technical Bureau in Dublin for examination and the car would be examined for fingerprints. "We are doing a review of security of prison officers living in the Clare division in conjunction with Limerick gardaí," he said.
The Army's Explosive Ordnance Disposal team arrived at the housing estate in the northern part of the town at midday to examine the package. It was described by an Army spokesman as "a hoax object contriving to be a bomb". A more elaborate package was placed at the home of a prison officer living on the Shelbourne Road in Limerick last week.
The latest attack, believed to be an attempt to frustrate an impending prosecution in the courts, was condemned by Mr Jim Mitchell, a spokesman for the Prisons Service. He described the unprecedented concerted attacks on prison staff as a sinister development. "As far as we are concerned, this is an attempt to intimidate our staff."