TWENTY two people have been killed and 59 injured in an explosion at the end of a concert by US singer Ariana Grande at Manchester Arena.
The explosion happened just after 10:30 pm on Monday evening in the foyer of the venue, as crowds were leaving the concert.
Greater Manchester Police have confirmed that the atrocity was committed by a suicide bomber.
A 23-year-old man has been arrested in South Manchester in connection with last night's incident, police also confirmed.
Manchester, which has a strong Irish community dating back centuries, last suffered a terrorist incident in 1996, when the Provisional IRA detonated a bomb in Manchester City.
No one was killed in that bombing, but terror has now returned to the city.
According to the 2011 Census, 34,499 Irish people are living in Greater Manchester. At least one-in-five are estimated to have Irish ancestry.
“I actually heard the explosion in 1996 and it was massive but this is worse, children have been killed and it’s just disgraceful,” Manchester Irishman Kevin Gallagher told The Irish Post.
“We’ve heard of this in Belgium, Paris and even London recently, but it’s really come home here now on our doorstep and we weren’t expecting it.”
Mr Gallagher, who lives within a mile of where the explosion happended, was awoken just before 11 o’clock by the sounds of sirens as emergency services streamed towards Manchester Arena to assist the victims.
“I live within a mile of the arena and it was just chaos with the amount of ambulances and what not. My daughter was going to attend a Take That concert at Manchester Arena on Friday night but she’s too frightened to go now.”
Martin Logan, a presenter with the Full Irish Radio Show who has lived in Manchester for almost 50 years, said learning that children were among the victims was “unbelievable”.
“I remember when the IRA bomb went off here in Manchester and the devastation it caused but it’s massively different this time, people have lost their lives and even worse there are kids among them.
Police cordoned off the area after the explosion last night. Picture: Dave Thompson/Getty Images“This is always the fear when you’ve got large amounts of people coming together, we know that London has seen its own attacks in recent years and don’t forget the false alarm at Manchester United last year – but we never expected this.”
In May last year, Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium was evacuated after a “dummy bomb” was accidentally left behind after a training exercise.
“That brought this sort of thing closer to home but like I said, we still weren’t expecting someone to do this to children,” Mr Logan said.
“How are you supposed to defend against this? It’s somebody just walking into a place and blowing themselves up.
“But I have to say that the community really rallied around last night. There were hotels offering places to children that weren’t able to get home and people opened their homes,” he added.
Kevin Fitzpatrick of St Kentigerns Irish Social Club said that anyone willing to blow up innocent children at a concert are “wild people”.
“There were a lot of Irish children at the concert but the majority of them seem to be safe thank God, " he said.
“There were black taxi drivers offering to drive people home free of charge and the emergency services were brilliant. That is the spirit of Manchester.”
Eamonn Quirke, vice chairman of the Galway Association Manchester, said that learning of the bombing gave him the “exactly the same” feeling as the bombing in 1996.
A man embraces a woman and a teenager as he collects them from the Park Inn Hotel. Picture: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images“It feels exactly the same because I remember it well the day that happened. But this time children are involved and it’s absolutely sickening.
We’re not aware of any Irish children involved and hopefully it stays that way.”
Mr Quirke was at the Manchester Arena a few weeks ago to watch Mrs Brown’s Boys.
“It’s a death-trap that place," he said. "I said to my wife as we came out that there’s nothing to stop someone attacking people as they come out.
“Everyone uses the same exit so this person has obviously met people as they’re leaving the concert and blown them up. My thoughts are with the families.”
Police say they are investigating whether the attacker acted alone or was part of a wider network.
Greater Manchester Police chief constable Ian Hopkins said the force would treat the incident as a terror attack "until we have further information".
A help centre for anyone needing assistance has been set up at Gate 11 of Manchester City's Etihad Stadium.
There are a number of places in the region that are accepting blood donations.
Norfolk House Donor Centre and Plymouth Grove Donor Centre are both within walking distance of the city centre.
Hotlines have been set up for people concerned about loved ones on 0161 856 9400 and 0161 856 9900.
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