{"id":470114,"date":"2026-05-27T20:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T20:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/470114\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T20:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T20:32:10","slug":"twenty-co-carlow-schools-received-emails-threatening-mass-shooting-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/470114\/","title":{"rendered":"Twenty Co Carlow schools received emails threatening mass shooting \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

High-visibility Garda<\/a> patrols will be in place near all 42 primary schools in Co Carlow<\/a> after 20 schools received an email on Wednesday morning threatening a mass shooting.<\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed believe the email, which was received shortly after 7am, was routed through another country.<\/p>\n

The credibility of the message is still being investigated, and there was no advance warning, the Garda said in a statement on Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cHigh visibility patrols have been in place throughout the day and indeed for the coming days in the environs of all 42 primary schools in Co Carlow,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

While some schools have made the decision to close, it said reopening is a matter for each school\u2019s board of management.<\/p>\n

At least 11 schools closed for the day after receipt of the email. Students were either told not to come in or were to be sent home by 11am.<\/p>\n

One such school, Scoil Mhuire gan Sm\u00e1l in Carlow town, advised parents early on Wednesday morning it would not be opening after receiving a \u201cthreatening email\u201d.<\/p>\n

The school said the move was \u201cin the interests of ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our school community\u201d.<\/p>\n

Parents and guardians were advised to follow updates directly from their own school and avoid sharing unverified information.<\/p>\n

A Garda investigation team was established in Carlow Garda station following the incident, and garda\u00ed have been in contact with all affected schools throughout Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Lines of communication have been \u201copened at a senior level\u201d with the Department of Education, the Garda said.<\/p>\n

Supt Anthony Farrell said: \u201cA process is under way to establish the identity of sender and credibility of message. There was no advance warning of this email.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has asked all school management across Co Carlow to undertake a \u201ccursory search of your building and grounds\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a possibility this email will be followed up by a ransomware attack \u2013 I ask that you do not click any links in any follow-up email. Advise Carlow Garda station instead.”<\/p>\n

Fergal Browne, local Fine Gael councillor and principal of St Joseph\u2019s National School, said the email came from an unknown Gmail account.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod knows where it came from. The email detailed that there would be mass shooting in the schools,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Browne said he was keeping St Joseph\u2019s open after speaking with garda\u00ed.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately these things do happen,\u201d he told KCLRFM. \u201cIt\u2019s an outrageous thing to happen. All schools have tightened up on this in recent years. We have to be vigilant but not under- or over-react. Garda advice is sacrosanct.<\/p>\n

He said once this scare settles down, safety in schools has to be looked at again.<\/p>\n

It is understood no secondary schools have received the emails.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"High-visibility Garda patrols will be in place near all 42 primary schools in Co Carlow after 20 schools…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45,16665,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-470114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-an-garda-siochana","tag-carlow","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}