Senior Bulgarian diplomats are to hold talks with the Government about an alleged international IRA money laundering ring, it emerged tonight.
As fraud squad detectives worked with Interpol to smash the dirty money racket, officials from the former Communist state were travelling to Ireland for top level security briefings.
Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy has confirmed his officers are going international to chase down all leads in an investigation which has already seen almost £3million sterling seized in raids across the country.
With detectives examining thousands of recovered documents in a bid to unravel the money trail, Bulgarian officials are seeking clarification of alleged links with businesses in the eastern European state.
Former senior Government aide Mr Phil Flynn admitted he travelled to Sofia last month with a leading Cork financier at whose home detectives discovered £2.3 million in cash.
Mr Flynn resigned a number of positions, including his role as head of the government's decentralisation body, after the Cork financier was questioned by officers probing a suspected Provisional money laundering scam.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice confirmed envoys at the Bulgarian Embassy had requested a high level meeting in Dublin to discuss efforts to break the money laundering ring. It is understood a special delegation from the former Communist state is due to be briefed on the investigations before reporting back to the country's Interior Ministry.
More than 100 detectives were involved in a series of arrests both sides of the border last week. Eight people were arrested in Cork and Dublin.
Cork chef Don Bullman was charged with membership of the dissident Real IRA after police allegedly discovered £54,000 stuffed into a washing powder box in a jeep outside Dublin's Heuston Station, while all seven others were released.
Forensic tests are still being carried out on the recovered notes, although police in Belfast and Dublin have refused to confirm if any of the money seized in the raids is part of the record £26.5million haul stolen during the Northern Bank heist.