Ballymun Road sealed off following discovery of suspect device

The Ballymun Road was closed for a number of hours this evening following the discovery of a suspect device.

The device was discovered shortly before 9pm at 10 Gateway Avenue, just metres from Gateway Student Village which houses hundreds of DCU students. Gardaí have said that anything further than 400 yards from the device is deemed as safe.

Gardaí then moved to close the road from Gateway Avenue as far down as Glasnevin Avenue.

The army bomb disposal team were called to the scene and the device has since been removed from the scene for further examination.

Students weren’t evacuated from Gateway as Gardaí deemed it as not close enough to the device to be in any immediate danger. The road was reopened shortly before 11pm following an all-clear from the Gardaí.

This is the second suspect device discovered in Ballymun in recent months. In January, an army bomb disposal team made safe a viable explosive device in the Belclare area of Ballymun.

Local Fine Gael councillor, Noel Rock, arrived at the scene shortly after 9:30 this evening.

“I was delivering leaflets close by and finished for the night, so I headed across. It seemed to be under control (by the Gardaí),” he said. “I got talking to a Garda at the scene and he said it was an explosive, but didn’t specify.”

“This is the second such incident recently in Ballymun so it is a bit concerning,” he added.

A number of students were left waiting to enter Gateway accommodation following the discovery.
A number of students were left waiting to enter Gateway accommodation following the discovery.

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Finnian Curran and Gianluca Avagnina

Photo Credit: Gianluca Avagnina

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