Gardaí have seized the most significant car bomb found in the State for years in an operation in Co Monaghan, with two arrests made, including a woman in her 20s studying law.
The device, which contained military-grade explosives, a power unit and detonator, was being moved across the Border in a car for use by dissident republicans in the North when it was discovered near Carrickmacross on Tuesday.
The bomb is believed to be the biggest seized in the Republic for at least a decade.
Senior gardaí were shocked by both by the sophistication of its construction, including plastic explosives, and the damage it could have done.
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Sources said the discovery of the device, up to a standard seized by the Garda during the Troubles, underlined the continued threat posed by dissident republican groups on both sides of the Border.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan said the bomb find was “very significant” and it confirmed there was an ongoing threat from dissidents.
“It is very worrying, but what I’m encouraged about is that the gardaí were able to apprehend the suspect. The device was found by gardaí and has been defused.”
A “very serious criminal act would have taken place” if the car bomb had not been seized. Even before this operation, O’Callaghan said he was regularly briefed by the Garda about the threat posed by dissidents and progress with investigations into them. He said the Garda was co-operating closely with the PSNI.
[ Man arrested over terrorist attack on PSNI station in LurganOpens in new window ]
Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly described the bomb as “an extremely significant development”.
He added a potential terrorist attack had been stopped because the Special Detective Unit was running a surveillance operation based on intelligence.
“What we found was an extremely significant seizure. This was an explosive device. We arrested one person at the scene and a second person in Dublin,” he said.
“This was a significant explosive device, not just a seizure of components or pieces. It could have potentially caused significant damage,” he said, adding further analysis was required before its potency could be fully understood.
The device was found in a car on the N2, Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, on Tuesday as part of a planned operation into dissident republican activity.
The Irish Times understands it was a fully constructed, portable car bomb that gardaí believe was due to be attached to a vehicle in Northern Ireland.
“At approximately 3pm, members of An Garda Síochána attached to the Special Detective Unit stopped a vehicle travelling on the N2 south of Carrickmacross,” the Garda said in a statement.
“Following the vehicle stop, An Garda Síochána requested the assistance of the Irish Defence Forces EOD [explosive ordnance disposal] team.”
It completed an examination of the vehicle. “The outcome is not being released for operational reasons,” the Garda said.
The driver of the vehicle, a woman in her 20s who is believed to be a student, was arrested under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act and remained in custody on Friday.
A man in his 40s has since been arrested in Dublin, as part of the investigation, with follow-up searches also carried out, in an operation being aided by the PSNI.
The man is being detained under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act at a Garda station in the Dublin region.
Kelly said any seizure of this nature was “concerning” and the Garda was maintaining its focus on the threat from dissidents, even though they were very few in number in the Republic.
Dissident republicans had not signed up to the Belfast Agreement and had not decommissioned, he said. And though they were a very small movement in the Republic, Kelly described them as “radicalised republicans” who were highly motivated and would continue to pose a threat for years to come.
“As we see [with the bomb seizure], they have the ability [to perform] engineering for explosive devices,” he said, adding the threat posed by the dissidents was “the reason we have a counterterrorism unit.”
Some people who had never lived in the period of the Troubles, including those born after 1998, when the Belfast Agreement was reached, had been radicalised and were active in dissident republican terrorism, said Kelly.
O’Callaghan and Kelly were speaking to the media on Friday at the Garda College, Templemore, Co Tipperary, at a ceremony for 206 new Garda members, bringing Garda numbers to 14,733. A further intake of 200 recruits is due to arrive at the college this weekend to commence training.
PSNI chief constable Jon Boutcher was also at the ceremony, with O’Callaghan saying he had spoken to him about the bomb find and cross-Border co-operation.
Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill, the First Minister of Northern Ireland, condemned the plot in a statement. “Those responsible have no support and no vision for our island and our communities,” she wrote on X.
