DPP to get file on bomb find during queen's visit

GARDAÍ ARE to prepare a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions after releasing without charge a man arrested for questioning about the discovery of an explosive device in Cork during the visit of Queen Elizabeth last May.

The 37-year-old man was arrested on Monday morning by detectives in the Rochestown area of Cork city and detained at the Bridewell Garda station under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act for suspected membership of the Real IRA.

The man was questioned about the discovery of a device made from a training grenade at a car park at University College Cork early on May 19th after a number of phone calls were made to the Samaritans, a local radio station and Cork University Hospital.

The explosive device was made safe by members of the explosive ordnance disposal team from Collins Barracks and was later removed for forensic examination.

Gardaí examined phone records to try to identify the caller who alerted the Samaritans, the radio station and the hospital to the existence of the device, and they also examined CCTV footage.

Dissident republicans also sent emails to a local radio station about the device, saying it had been planted on the grounds of UCC because of the visit the next day by the queen to the Tyndall National Institute, which is located about a kilometre away.

Yesterday’s arrest is the third by gardaí investigating incidents during the queen’s visit to Cork on May 20th.

One man has already been sent forward for trial to the Special Criminal Court in relation to a bomb hoax at Cork airport as the queen was preparing to leave.

Gardaí also arrested a 29-year-old man from Douglas who was armed with an imitation firearm near the Tyndall institute during the visit. He was released and a file prepared for the DPP.