The army bomb squad has carried out a controlled explosion on a ‘suspicious’ object that was found washed up on a beach in Co Clare this afternoon.
The alarm was raised at around lunchtime when the metal object was spotted on the shoreline at Barrtrá near Lahinch.
Gardaí went to the scene to carry out a preliminary inspection before requesting assistance from the army Explosives Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team.
A unit travelled to the scene from Collins barracks in Cork travelled to the scene.
Volunteers from Clare Civil Defence were also requested to attend the incident to provide lighting for the bomb squad.
The object was examined by EOD members and was found to be harmless. A decision was taken however to carry out a controlled explosion at the scene.
The scene was declared safe at around 5.45pm.
The object is now believed to have been a marine or fishing buoy that had washed up in the recent storms.
