Longford County Council has condemned those responsible for the fake bomb threats in the town over the weekend.

On Saturday afternoon, two calls were reported to Longford Gardaí regarding suspicious devices, and a number of retail premises were cleared in Longford town.

Hundreds of staff and customers were forced to evacuate the buildings.

Gardaí have stated that the response involved the emergency services, specialist canine units and Members of the Defence Forces.

A number of searches were conducted, no devices were located and the locations were deemed safe.

'Huge distress'

The calls are now being treated as a hoax, and Cathoirleach of Longford County Council, Colm Murray, is urging anyone with information to contact Gardaí.

"The person at the back of this, I'm sure they thought it was a very funny joke," he said. "The reality is, it wasn't."

"It has caused people huge distress. It has taken up a huge amount of Garda time and resources on Saturday evening.

"It has had a detrimental effect on those two major retail businesses that were affected, and on the town in general.

"Certainly, if anyone has any modicum of information at all, I'd urge you definitely to come forward to the Guards."