An Post has warned that there may be delays in processing some national and international letters and parcels after its mail centre in Portlaoise was evacuated today.
The postal service said customs staff based at the national parcel hub at Clonminem industrial estate discovered a suspect item in a package.
"The centre was immediately evacuated and arrangements are in place to have the item assessed and dealt with by the Defence Forces Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Team," an An Post said in a statement.
It said there may be some delays in the processing of some incoming and outgoing, national and international, letters and parcels.
“As this stage it is unclear as to how long this process may take. An Post is arranging to divert letter and parcel mail due for processing in the affected centre to alternative mail hubs in Dublin and Athlone and to deploy extra vehicles to replace those parked at the centre,” the statement added.
An Post said staff would work through the night “to minimise the impact of this unexpected incident on all business and personal customers”.
It will provide updates on its website anpost.ie and by Twitter at @postvox.
The mail centre in Portlaoise is one of An Post’s four national automated mail hubs.
It also the location of the national parcel hub where all incoming international parcels are processed for delivery.
An Post handles more than 2.5 million items of mail every working day.