English: THERE WAS AN INCIDENT IN SMITHFIELD TODAY (THE ASSISTANCE OF THE BOMB DISPOSAL UNIT WAS REQUIRED)-146330

Gardaí received reports of a male armed with a firearm and a suspect device at about 11:30am today 20th December 2018.

Today I had decided to get a tram to Tallaght but when I arrived at the tram the public display indicated that the service had been suspended because of an incident at Smithfield. I then decided to have lunch at a nearby restaurant and the owner told me that a judge had been kidnapped by a man who had a gun and explosives but the incident was actually less serious.

Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Ireland: The Ordnance Corps provide the only dedicated Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and Improvised Explosive Device Disposal (IEDD) teams within the Republic of Ireland. This service supports the Garda Síochána, the national police force, in an Aid to the Civil Power (ATCP) role, as well as providing the three branches of the Defence Forces (Army, Naval Service and Air Corps) with EOD, IEDD and CBRNE defence (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives) specialist capability across its full spectrum of operations.

The corps has a long history of Counter-IED efforts (C-IED) within the country owing to The Troubles and the proliferation in use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) by dissident republican paramilitary and terrorist groups, and more recently Irish and international organised criminal drug gangs. Significant experience was built up during UNIFIL missions in Lebanon, and the ISAF counter-IED programme in Afghanistan was largely developed by senior Irish Army ordnance officers. Information obtained during the combatting of IRA bombs has been particularly relevant to security forces countering the activities of Hezbollah and the Taliban, whose bomb making techniques are similar.