MEP Barry Andrews speaks on bomb threats across Europe

Ciara Kelly (0:00)

The Hard Shoulder, with Ciara Kelly and Shane Colman. On Newstalk, with Ciara.

And for more on this topic, because of those bomb threats, not just in airlines across Europe, in this building, this building was evacuated earlier. Media outlets in Ireland have been evacuated because of bomb threats today. We are joined now by Fianna Fáil MEP, Barry Andrews. Good evening to you, Barry. You have said that you don't think any of this is a coincidence, that this is happening now, that the summit that's occurring next week, next Thursday, that these things are all linked.

Barry Andrews (0:39)

Yes, I certainly do. Good evening Ciara and to your listeners. I do have my very serious suspicions that it is linked to the events that are taking place next week. We can expect there to be a massive ramping up of security by next Monday. And Dubliners will be aware that there is going to be serious disruptions to life in the city over the course of next week. And I think some of the security people have made the point that this is the period of maximum vulnerability for Ireland because that security will be stepped up next week. But this week we are still in advance of that.

And something very similar happened in Denmark when they hosted the European political community for the first time last year. It was exactly a week before that happened. There were specific drone attacks at Copenhagen Airport, which required it to close down for two or three hours and also at a military airport in Denmark. And that happened exactly a week before Denmark hosted almost 50 heads of state in Copenhagen. So it's, you know, look, you can't be absolutely conclusive. Investigations will have to take place before attribution.

But nevertheless, experts are now pointing to, as you said in your introduction there, to a state actor. And it certainly has all the hallmarks of that, given what's happened in the past.

Ciara Kelly (2:03)

Yeah. And perhaps you don't want to say it out straight, Barry, but the presumption is that that state actor, and certainly the speculation is focused at that state actor, is in fact Russia.

Aon O'Riordan said earlier today on Irish Radio that some on the left do not like to criticize Russia, and he said he and the Labour Party are not among them. Do you think that we do go too softly on Russia here? Particularly some parties on the left?

Barry Andrews (2:29)

Yeah, I think there has been a consistent pattern of underestimating the threat from Russia, even before the full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 That was what we heard all the time. We were told that it's just militarization and that it's just overreaction and it's only meant to help the armaments industry.

Ciara Kelly (2:50)

We got a text saying almost exactly that a moment ago, yeah.

Barry Andrews (2:54)

Yeah, no, I listened to that. And so that's exactly what these threats are designed to achieve, which is to create confusion, to create disruption, to undermine confidence in positions being adopted by Western governments and to try and create a cost for Europe for supporting Ukraine's defense of its national sovereign integrity. And this is exactly what's happening. So, you know, that is unfortunately the pattern that we've seen consistently. It happens almost on a daily basis, especially in the Eastern part of Europe and the Baltic countries, in Poland. They have attacks on their energy systems. They have drone attacks. They have incursions. They have cyber attacks on their IT systems. It is just a constant pattern. It's something we probably have had a diminished sense of the reality of over the last couple of years. But unfortunately, when you host these big meetings, it probably puts a target on your back.

But I have to say, I think, especially the media organizations reacted brilliantly today and the airlines as well. Yesterday, there are very specific protocols, the safety of workers and the passengers in commercial airlines, the first thing and the priority at all times. I flew myself today. I didn't feel any sense of fear or concern about it. So I think life goes on as normal. Our advice to people is really to certainly plan their journeys, plan their trips into Dublin next week and allow extra time.

And hopefully, we won't have any problems after that.

Ciara Kelly (4:24)

And Barry, you said that you think this, I suppose, multi-faceted disruption of European nation states that it is designed, perhaps, to undermine resolve or undermine support for Ukraine. Should it, in fact, in your view, have the opposite effect? Should it, in fact, spur Europe on to stepping up in terms of support for Ukraine, to not just give Ukraine enough support that it doesn't lose, but give Ukraine, instead, enough support that it would actually win?