Bullets threat to Mountjoy officers

Two people have been arrested over an incident at Mountjoy Prison in Dublin, in which two bullets were delivered by hand to the jail on Monday.

The delivery consisted of an envelope containing two bullets and a handwritten note. It was handed to a prison officer at the gate. The contents of the parcel only became known after it was opened by staff by which time the man who delivered it had left.

The note demanded that two inmates be transferred from the area in Mountjoy where they are housed. The prisoners are gangland figures from west Dublin.

One is a 30-year-old who was imprisoned after making threats to a man from his locality and the other is his close associate. He is a 25-year-old serving a life sentence for serious firearms offences. The note also contained the names of a number of prison officers as well as details relating to their activities outside working hours.

The two people questioned over the incident were arrested on Wednesday at 2.35pm in Chancery Street in Dublin's north inner city. They were taken to Mountjoy Garda station.

The 29-year-old man arrested has an address in the Blanchardstown area and is well known to gardaí. The other person is his 21-year-old partner.

Fine Gael's justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan TD said the incident underlined the dangerous nature of the work performed by prison officers.

"There is a need for both increased protection for prison officers in the wake of this latest despicable threat and for extra vigilance at prisons," he said.