A number of Cork schools, including at least one in West Cork, received threatening emails yesterday morning while undertaking industrial action. The message was received while thousands of teachers, SNAs and school staff were on strike and children were not on school premises.

Gardaí confirmed they are assessing the contents and credibility of the message after school officials reported the issue.

A number of schools have informed parents and guardians of the threatening message. Schools have been advised to continue operating as normal unless otherwise directed by gardaí.

After consultation with An Garda Síochána, the Department of Education have encouraged any school who received the email to ring 999 and report the threat. The Department have been in contact with schools, boards of management, unions and management bodies to advise full cooperation with garda instructions.