Army makes safe two devices in north Dublin

Gardaí are investigating the discovery of two explosive devices in a north Dublin park late last night.

The alarm was raised when two suspicious packages were discovered at Fairview Park on Dublin's northside at 10.30 last night. Gardaí called in the Army's bomb disposal team and they arrived at the scene at 11.55 pm.

Two controlled explosions were carried out on the devices. The Army said the devices, which they described as Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were not set to detonate but the components could have been assembled for use elsewhere.

The area was declared safe at 3.10 am and the remains of the devices were handed over to gardaí for investigation into the incident.

A number of devices have been found in the 20-hectare park in the past year.  In February, a controlled explosion was carried out on a device the same day a British monarch visited Dublin.

At the time, gardaí refused to link the device with the visit by the Princess Royal to Croke Park for the Ireland v Scotland rugby international.

Last November, two pipe bombs were found in the park by a man walking his dog. Gardaí believed they were most likely made to order by a criminal gang and had been left for collection.

This year has seen a major increase in the number of times the Army's bomb disposal teams have been called out. Since January, they have been called out over 150 times this year, compared with 98 cases in all of last year.