Posted online: Jan 11th, 2008

By Paula Burns
paula.burns@kildarepost.com
Hundreds of sale-hungry shoppers had to be evacuated and businesses were temporarily closed when the Whitewater Shopping Centre in Newbridge was the target of a bomb scare on Monday morning.
Newbridge Garda Station was contacted by an anonymous male caller who indicated that a bomb would go off at the shopping centre at approximately 1pm on Monday.
Gardai at Newbridge informed the management of the Whitewater Shopping Centre instantly to put a plan of evacuation into action.
At this time the bomb disposal unit was not called but Newbridge Gardai conducted a thorough search of the premises. In the interest of safety, the shopping centre was closed from mid-day until around 1.20pm, by which time the Gardai had fully satisfied themselves that there was no bomb in the location.
It is believed to have been a hoax caller who contacted the gardai, and as a result there is an investigation taking place by local gardai. Justin Young, manager at the centre, stated: “An ongoing garda investigation is taking place into the incident. At the Whitewater we do have full procedures for incidents such as a bomb threat and these were put fully in place yesterday. At this time I cannot comment any further.”
The Whitewater Shopping Centre, off main street in Newbridge, is one of the country’s biggest shopping centres outside of Dublin, with UK multiples Debenhams and Marks and Spencer as anchor tenants.