Letter with ‘suspicious powder’ sent to Alan Kelly declared a hoax

Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly has strongly condemned the sending of a threatening letter to his constituency office.

A package containing a suspicious substance and a letter threatening Mr Kelly and his family were opened by a member of his staff at his office in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, shortly after 9am on Friday.

The letter warned Mr Kelly to watch his back, his family, his car and his house and threatened that he would be “dealt with”.

Gardaí and the Defence Forces were called and the Army's Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team examined the substance. It declared the material as "a hoax" at around 1.30pm.

The office was closed for four hours while the material was investigated and three of the Minister’s staff were required to remain in the building.

The Minister has condemned the “deplorable incident” and said his staff were extremely shaken and very distressed.

Mr Kelly has received a number of death threats since becoming the Minister for the Environment.

There was a bomb threat in his constituency office last November after days of menacing phone calls to Mr Kelly.

He contacted the gardaí over the threats which warned a bullet will be put through his head.

Security arrangements have been advanced over the past 12 months. Gardaí are now being alerted to Ministers’ public engagements to avoid any security risk.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has been offered extra security but told a Dáil committee recently he declined the offer.