Gardaí have concluded that threatening emails sent to Clare schools are a hoax. 

This morning, a number of schools were shut across the county on the advice of Gardaí. 

Schools asked parents to keep their children at home due to "circumstances outside our control”.

“We’re still not sure how many schools it was sent to - that will come out in due course,” Newstalk reporter Jamie O’Hara told The Hard Shoulder. 

“But the email purporting to come from a named individual said it would be one of the most ‘prolific attacks in Irish history’ - involving multiple firearms. 

“There was also talk of a manifesto that had already supposedly been distributed via post.” 

Jamie said “understandably” there was a huge amount of concern and fear in schools across the country. 

“While people’s first instinct might say, ‘Well, this will never happen’ and, ‘It has to be a hoax’, you couldn’t blame anyone for being worried,” he said. 

“I was in Ennis from around midday and it was a much more relaxed place at that stage. 

“There were lots of children walking around with their parents and they were probably delighted to have a day off.” 

Ongoing investigation

This afternoon, Gardaí confirmed the email was not credible and should be treated as a hoax. 

“They have confirmed that it was a hoax email and confirmed it was never a credible threat to any school in the region,” he said. 

“They are engaging with the schools in question and investigations are ongoing.” 

'It didn’t make any sense'

One mother told Newstalk that parents felt “very scared” when the schools emailed them. 

“When I was on my way to work this morning, another one of the girls rang to see what the story was,” she recalled. 

“Were we open? That she had got messages from friends of hers whose schools were closed. 

“When I got to school, I got a message from my boy’s school to say they weren’t in school today. 

“So, I had to make arrangements to collect them.” 

Despite this, other parents thought the whole thing “a bit bizarre,” 

“It didn’t make any sense; this couldn’t be real,” she said. 

“I was very sceptical about the whole thing but, definitely, there was fear there when parents were collecting kids from school.” 

Main image: A split of a Garda and closed school gate. Picture by: Alamy.com