A foreign affairs spokesman in Dublin said that, as of late Saturday afternoon, no Irish people were caught up in the security alert at the resort, which is popular with students.

Staff in the embassy would be monitoring the situation over the weekend, he said.

Spanish police evacuated the busy airport yesterday after the Basque newspaper, Gara, said it received an anonymous warning that an "explosive device" had been planted at the airport. The newspaper is often used by the separatist group, Eta, for warnings.

After the airport was evacuated, police carried out a controlled explosion. The airport was later closed to all flights.

Some 300 arrivals and departures were scheduled for yesterday and the authorities gave no indication of when the airport will reopen.

Eta announced the end of its ceasefire on 5 June. Despite the ceasefire, two people were killed in a bomb explosion in Madrid's Barajas airport last December.