This afternoon I was in South Great George’s Street and suddenly sirens and blue light everywhere. From the Rathmines direction three garda motorbikes raced down the street in super speed. Behind them a big green truck with blue lights and sirens and the writing “Explosive Ordnance Disposal” (i.e. the Army Bomb Disposal Unit) on it. Great St. George’s Street near George’s Street Arcade is an area with quite a number of pedestrians, but luckily there weren’t too many people around at that time because neither motorbikes nor truck would have been able to stop if someone had crossed the street not hearing/seeing the convoy.
Something SERIOUS must be up, I thought.
A little later I heard in the news that in Strandville Avenue, near North Strand Road, a ammunition dump was found. Grenades, rifle rounds and artillery shells were discovered under the kitchen floor of a house being renovated and it emerged that they were badly corroded and dated back many years, possibly to the War of Independence, that’s 1919-1921!
Not so good to have lots of corroded ammunition next to the DART/train line in a reasonably densely populated area of the city, but let’s consider this:
This ammunition was in that house for approx 90 years!!! But after it is found, the Bomb Disposal Unit (supported by the police) RACES through the city centre as if seconds or minutes matter.
(And let me clarify, the ammunition was found at 11:45 and the scene was cleared at 15:15. I saw the break-neck speed convoy racing by at approx. 14:40. So either it took them nearly 3 hours to get there OR it was not the first time the bomb disposal unit was on site. Either way, a more leisurely and safe speed through the city centre would have been ok.)
www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0817/breaking48.html
or
www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/historical-arms-dump-found-in-dublin-house-516885.html
