An “extremely significant” car bomb has been intercepted in transit near the Irish border in an operation targeting dissident republicans, Irish police said.
Members of the Garda’s Special Detective Unit stopped the vehicle travelling on the N2 south of Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, on Wednesday afternoon.
Gardai then requested the assistance of the Irish Defence Forces EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) team, which completed an examination of the vehicle.
It is understood the device found contained suspected military-grade explosives, with Garda sources describing the bomb as “highly sophisticated” and “advanced”.
The vehicle’s female driver, aged in her twenties, was arrested at the scene and remained in Garda custody on Friday.
Another suspect, a man aged in his forties, has since been arrested and is being held at a Garda station in the Dublin area.
Garda commissioner Justin Kelly confirmed details of the operation as he spoke to media at a Garda graduation event in Co Tipperary on Friday.
“To be clear, what we found was an extremely significant seizure,” he said.
“So this was an explosive device.”
Commissioner Kelly added: “Any seizure of this nature is really concerning.
“However, we certainly know that there are a small minority of dissident republicans who did not agree with the Good Friday Agreement; they did not put weapons and explosives [out of use], they didn’t, you know, go through with the proper process in relation to decommissioning.
“So that is something that we continue to deal with.
“There’s a small minority of these individuals, I would describe them as radicalised republicans, and this is a threat that we’re going to continue to face for some time in An Garda Siochana.
“We work very closely with our colleagues in PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland) and the intelligence services in the UK to deal with this threat.
“But I want to commend the members of An Garda Siochana who are involved in this operation.”
Ireland’s minister for justice, Jim O’Callaghan, described the seizure as “very worrying”.
“I think it is very significant,” he said.
“I’ve been updated on that by the [Garda] commissioner. I think it evidences the fact that there is an ongoing threat in respect of dissident republican activity.
“But I also know that there’s been great cooperation between the PSNI and An Garda Siochana, and I think I suppose the developments recently and the work of An Garda Siochana indicate the benefits of having that close cooperation between the PSNI and An Garda Siochana.”
The minister, who also attended the Garda graduation ceremony in Templemore, added: “It is very worrying. But I suppose what I’m encouraged about is that the gardai were able to apprehend the suspect.
“The device has been, I suppose, procured for the gardai and has been defused. So there’s lots of issues in respect of it that are concerning. But I also want to commend the gardai for the work they did in ensuring that this didn’t become a real threat to the public.”
He said there was undoubtedly an “ongoing threat” from dissident republicanism.
“We need to recognise that, and what happened … [at Carrickmacross] is evidence of that,” said Mr O’Callaghan.