Army bomb experts carried out controlled explosions in Dublin and Limerick yesterday on vintage hand grenades.
Workmen digging a path in a housing estate adjoining New Nangor Road in Clondalkin, Co Dublin, alerted gardai yesterday when they dug up what appeared to be a suspicious object.
The Garda contacted the Defence Forces, which sent an Explosives Ordnance Department (EOD) team from Cathal Brugha Barracks and identified a 1936 Mills hand grenade.
The device was removed to a safe location on waste ground at the Grange golf course.
The Army Press Office spokesman, Capt Tom Clonan, warned that older devices such as the Mills grenade were a danger to the public. The older they were the more difficult they were to make harmless, he said.
The discovery of devices was on the increase. "The EOD does an average of three call-outs a week to do controlled explosions on devices such as this," he said.
More Irish people on holiday abroad were picking up devices such as grenades in souvenir markets which appeared relatively harmless but were potentially lethal weapons.
"The public has a particular idea in mind of what constitutes an explosive device from watching films or television but in reality ordnance comes in all shapes and sizes. The dangers are very real."
He appealed to the public not to be embarrassed or reluctant to report suspicious devices to the authorities. People should contact the Garda or the Defence Forces.
Army bomb disposal experts from Collins Barracks in Cork also made safe a home-made Civil War hand grenade found hidden in a wall on a farm outside Bruff, Co Limerick, yesterday.
Gardai called in the Defence Forces after they were notified of the discovery by the landowner. An EOD team removed the heavily-corroded grenade from the wall and made it safe in a field.
According to the Collins Barracks press officer, Comdt Dan Harvey, the bomb disposal unit based there had dealt with 35 suspicious devices this year, while the number of call-outs nationally now stood at 130.
"The number of call-outs this year is up on last year. That's partly due to increased development and construction work, but it's also partly due to greater vigilance by the public and by people doing the right thing and contacting us.
"The call-outs involve dealing with old munitions as in this case, items washed ashore and explosive finds.
"We would urge anyone who finds any device not to touch it but to contact the Garda immediately and they can alert us."