SAMPLES of substances taken from a puzzling object discovered on the shoreline at Newcastle, Co Wicklow, have been sent to the State science and technology agency, Forbairt, for analysis.
Army explosives experts have failed to identify the roughly spherical object about a metre long which was found by a local man, Mr Patrick Gallivan.Thursday. Rough seas are thought to have washed it ashore.
As a combined Army, Garda and Civil Defence operation got under way to identify the object and search the beach for similar items yesterday, Wicklow county secretary, Mr Brian Doyle, discounted suggest ions that it might be an unexploded bomb.
Speculation that the object is part of the explosives dumped in the Irish Sea 50 years ago was rejected by Army personnel, who concluded it was not explosive.
The Department of the Marine confirmed that a Geiger reading had been taken and the material was not radioactive and not a form of nuclear waste.
The spokesman said the object has been made secure above the high water mark and hazard warnings placed around it.
Mr Brian White, environmental officer with Wicklow County Council, said they were satisfied there was no danger to the public. It would be disposed of safely as soon as Forbairt has completed its analysis.
The Minister of State for the Marine, Mr Eamon Gilmore, asked the public to avoid tampering with the object.