A Continuity IRA member serving a sentence for firearms offences has been found dead in his cell at Portlaoise Prison.
The Limerick man (35), who has not been named, was found hanged in a metal wardrobe at around 11.00am today.
He was discovered by a fellow prisoner in his single cell hours after prison staff had unlocked his cell door.
A Prison Service spokesman said medical staff were called to the cell, but the man was pronounced dead.
Gardaí were also notified and were carrying out an investigation, as is the Governor of Portlaoise Prison.
The dead man was jailed for five years in February for firearms offences after gardaí raided a Continuity IRA training camp in the Comeragh Mountains in Co Waterford.
Rifles, shotguns, ammunition, balaclavas, combat gear and a makeshift firing range were uncovered in the swoop.
Eight other men found at the camp were also jailed for between four and six years.
The men were in possession of two lawfully held rifles with telescopic sights, one lawfully held shotgun and one unlawfully sawn-off shotgun that had been stolen in a burglary in 1999, as well as balaclavas, combat gear and equipment used for target practice.