DUBLIN, Nov 13 (Reuters) – Irish army bomb experts made a crude but viable explosive device safe at an office building in central Dublin on Friday, close to where world leaders dined a day earlier during a two-day summit in the Irish capital.
Irish police said they responded to a report of a suspicious device on Friday afternoon in the building on Merrion Square. Leaders from the European Political Community that includes EU and non-EU countries had met for dinner at a venue on another side of the square on Thursday.
“Based on initial Garda (police) assessment the defence forces Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team were requested to attend the scene. The EOD team has made what is a crude but viable device safe,” police said in a statement.
An investigation is under way, the statement added. It did not say when police believe the bomb was planted or give other details about it.
French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney — a guest at the event — attended the dinner at the National Gallery of Ireland.
A security cordon was placed around the venue for the dinner, with roads within the vicinity of Merrion Square closed off. Police said the two-day gathering was the largest security operation they had ever undertaken.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was also at the summit but did not attend the dinner as he was meeting US presidential envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff on the outskirts of Dublin.
The summit, which continued on Friday with an informal meeting of EU leaders, was held at a separate venue 1.5 kilometres away from where the device was discovered.
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
