Army bomb disposal makes chemical safe

Army bomb disposal teams were called upon twice yesterday to make safe quantities of a chemical in two schools in Dublin and …

Army bomb disposal teams were called upon twice yesterday to make safe quantities of a chemical in two schools in Dublin and Cork.

The Defence Forces were first deployed to Grange Community College in Coolock, north Dublin, to deal with a quantity of 2,4-Dinitrophenylhydrazine, a chemical reagent found in laboratories which can become unstable over time if it crystallises.

The team arrived at 2.10pm and removed the reagent from the school to a safe location, where it was destroyed in a controlled explosion. The area was declared safe at 3.30pm.

A second team was called to St Mary’s Secondary School in Macroom, Co Cork at 3pm. The team removed a quantity of the same reagent to a safe location and destroyed it, completing their task at 4.20pm.