Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

Not to put too fine a point on it, I agree with Deputy O'Shea that the recent trend has been quite alarming. In 2006, there were 101 call-outs, eight of which were hoaxes. The figures for 2007 were 98 and 11, respectively. In 2008, there were 180 call-outs, 58 of which turned out to be hoaxes. I have the up-to-date figures to 5 March. There were 32 call-outs, which seems to be a repeat of the pattern last year, and the number of hoaxes was ten, which, again, at approximately one in three is a repeat of last year's pattern. That is worrying.

The explosives ordinance team gets the request from the Garda and it has to act on it. There is a difference between hoax calls and calls to hoax devices. The fire service receives hoax calls but the calls received by the explosives ordinance team are from the Garda Síochána to investigate a device. A pattern is evident but as to who appears to be behind it or to what it is linked, that is a matter for the Garda Síochána. We simply respond to requests from it.

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