'Extremely significant' car bomb intercepted near border by Irish police

An "extremely significant" car bomb has been intercepted by Irish police near the border with Northern Ireland.

A female driver in her 20s has been arrested after the Gardai discovered the explosive during an operation targeting dissident republicans.

The "significant explosive device" was contained in a car travelling on the N2 south of Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, about 6.21 miles (10km) from the open border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

On Friday, Irish police said the car bomb was intercepted on Wednesday afternoon, and had since been defused.

A man, aged in his 40s, has also been arrested and is being held at a Garda station in the Dublin area.

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said police had made an "extremely significant seizure" and indicated that the bomb was already constructed when it was seized.

"Unfortunately for operational reasons, I can't go into the exact detail of the device," he said.

"But what I will say certainly it was a significant explosive device. So certainly not just the seizure of components or pieces.

"This was an explosive device and it would have or could have potentially caused significant damage."

He added that pulling over of the car was "not a random stop" and had been an "intelligence-led operation".

Commissioner Kelly said there were still "radicalised republicans" who did not accept the peace treaty brought in by the Good Friday Agreement that ended three decades of sectarian conflict in Ireland known as the Troubles.

"Any seizure of this nature is really concerning," he said.

"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 Síochána."

Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland Emma Little-Pengelly said in a post on X that the incident is "deeply concerning".

Ireland's justice minister 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."

He added: "The device has been, I suppose, procured for the gardaí and has been defused. So there's lots of issues in respect of it that are concerning. But I also want to commend the gardaí for the work they did in ensuring that this didn't become a real threat to the public."

Gardaí requested the assistance of the Irish Defence Forces EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team to complete an examination of the vehicle.

Garda sources have described the bomb as "highly sophisticated" and "advanced".

Sporadic attacks by ⁠militant groups, often attempted car bombings, ​continue in Northern Ireland almost three ​decades
after a peace deal largely brought a sectarian violence in the British-run region.

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