ALAN KELLY HAS labelled the person who sent a threatening letter containing a powdered substance to his office last week as “a scumbag”.

An army bomb disposal unit was called to Kelly’s office in Nenagh in Tipperary on Friday morning after the package was delivered.

It’s understood a threatening letter and a powdery substance were contained in an envelope delivered to the office and opened by a staff member.

The office was temporarily closed and an army bomb disposal team arrived on the scene at lunchtime. Following an examination it was declared a hoax, and the scene was declared safe at 1.30pm.

“The gardaí know my movements all day every day more or less,” Kelly told Tipp FM in his first interview since the incident.

“I go through that all the time so I’m used to that – but this is a different level, [for] the lads inside in my office to be subjected to something like that where their safety is an issue now is a level which I’ve never encountered before.

“Whoever sent this is a scumbag, it’s as simple as that.”

A number of threats have been made against the minister since he took responsibility for the environment portfolio, which includes overseeing the controversial roll-out of water charges.

Last November a bomb threat was phoned into the same office in Nenagh with another caller threatening to kill the minister.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Saturday Night with Miriam programme in July, Kelly claimed that death threats had been made against his family.

“It’s one thing to have threats against yourself or nasty things said about yourself. It’s another thing for stuff to be sent to your family, your wife, your parents and, also, my staff,” he said at the time.

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