Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton has warned Irish schools that they must be ‘prepared’ for further bomb scares.

This comes after guidelines were sent to primary and secondary school staff on how to manage serious threats.

There have been increased fears of bomb scares across the country after staff at RTÉ, the Irish Independent, Virgin Media and Newstalk were sent an email threatening to blow up their buildings. 

Teachers and students have already experienced worrying correspondence this year, with a number of schools sent bomb threats amid the strikes last month. 

Now, Minister Naughton is urging schools to be proactive about receiving any further threats, explaining the importance of security while at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis on Saturday. 

She explained: ‘From the schools’ perspective, there have been concerns in relation to this and our schools have been very proactive.

‘I think we always have to be prepared. We have EU leaders coming to this country, but, again, we need to really reassure people that there is a huge amount of work happening around our security within the State.’ 

This comes after the Health and Safety Authority of Ireland (HSAI) outlined guidance for schools that may receive bomb threats as part of its general safety advice. 

The ‘detailed account’ reportedly includes ‘a list of steps in the school’s procedures for dealing with a variety of emergency and critical incident situations, including fire, flood, bomb scare and other incidents.’ 

In an advice document for primary schools, the HSAI stressed that ‘emergency procedures must be developed in advance, clearly communicated and understood, and practised on a planned basis.’ 

The Government has maintained that both primary and secondary schools have a right to close if management believes there is a risk to students’ safety. 

Emergency advice on the Gov.ie website reads: ‘In the event of an emergency, the school management authority can make the decision to close a school.

‘Any decision to close the school is made in the interest of children’s safety. The school management authority will assess local risks and consult school transport operators.’ 

This comes after the Government warned that the recent threats against RTE and other media organisations were ‘likely’ part of a coordinated campaign of disruption. 

In the email sent to staff, the sender claims to be part of a group that had sent similar threats to a number of airlines over the last two weeks. 

It is understood that Gardaí are now probing to see if three Russian ‘hacktivist’ groups were behind the threats.