Gardaí believe a bomb scare that caused the centre of Dundalk, Co Louth, to be sealed off this afternoon was a hoax.
A Garda spokeswoman said the town centre was now re-opened to traffic.
A coded warning had been phoned into the Samaritans in Portadown earlier today. The caller said a bomb had been left in Clanbrassil Street in Dundalk and was due to explode at 5 p.m.
The warning was passed on to the gardaí in Dundalk by the RUC. The area was cordoned off and traffic was diverted while gardaí carried out a search of the area.
The Workers' Party in Dundalk condemned the bomb scare as "another attempt to cause chaos and drag people back to the past".
Louth Workers' Party chairman Mr Peter Short said that those responsible were anti-patriotic.
"Dundalk and County Louth are just beginning the process of recovering from the foot-and-mouth outbreak in the county.It is a time when everyone in the county should be pulling together.
"These saboteurs are not just causing traffic confusion in Dundalk, they are directly attacking the people of Dundalk," he said.