A number of high-profile Irish media organisations, including Ireland’s public service broadcaster RTÉ, have been evacuated after threats were made against them.

An RTÉ radio presenter told listeners that the organisation had received an email warning that a “bomb was going to go off within 45 minutes”.

Staff at the Irish Independent newspaper and the Dublin offices of radio stations NewstalkFM and TodayFM were also advised to leave their buildings.

In a statement, gardaí (Irish police) said they were “aware of a threat made against media organisations here and in Europe”.

They added they were liaising with the affected Irish media organisations and the threats would be investigated.

The Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Micheál Martin described situation as “worrying” and added his government’s first priority was the safety of the Irish public.

“Yesterday, there appeared to be coordinated efforts to disrupt air travel,” he said.

He was referring to hoax bomb threats which affected 21 flights across Europe on Thursday, including Ryanair and Aer Lingus planes.

Martin told RTÉ it was not yet known if the threats had come from individuals or if it was a “coordinated attack” but said they were being taken seriously.

“The gardaí, the defence forces, cyber and aviation authorities are working to establish who’s behind this, as are their European counterparts,” Martin said.

He added: “It just illustrates how relatively simple it can be to cause disruption and to undermine the normal operation of society through unconventional activities of this kind, which are designed to cause disruption, designed to cause fear and anxiety.”

Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) Simon Harris said it was a “very serious and evolving situation”.

“Obviously this comes on the back of a number of bomb scares yesterday and in recent days in relation to airlines as well,” he told Cork 96FM.

“I think it’s fair to say we don’t yet know who is responsible for what’s happening this morning.”

He said Irish authorities and cyber experts would be “liaising as appropriate with European counterparts” to identify the culprits.

Dozens of RTÉ staff gathered outside the broadcaster’s headquarters in Donnybrook earlier as gardaí conducted searches with sniffer dogs.

Some live radio shows were interrupted as the broadcaster switched to pre-recorded programmes during the evacuation, but RTÉ Radio 1 remains on air as it is broadcasting from a newscaster vehicle.

Returning to her microphone at NewstalkFM, presenter Claire Byrne told listeners the threat her station received had been judged to be fake.

“Just like many other media organisations in Ireland today we were advised to leave the building today on foot of a message that we received.

“We’ve been in touch with the gardaí – everybody left. We were advised that we could return to the building and that that warning was a hoax.”

On the social media platform X, NewstalkFM said: “Bauer Media offices were evacuated this morning after receiving a hoax bomb threat.

“We can report that everyone is safe and we are back on air as normal.”