A Co Monaghan man was found guilty at the Special Criminal Court yesterday of having a massive haul of explosives near the Border last year.
A second man was acquitted of the charges after the court found that the case against him was largely circumstantial.
Joseph Fee (40), of Blackstaff, Inniskeen, Co Monaghan, was found guilty of both charges: the unlawful possession of an explosive substance, ammonium nitrate and sugar, and of having the explosive with the intent to endanger life at Thornfield, Inniskeen, Co Louth, on June 13th, 2003.
The second man, Mr Eamonn Matthews (25), Dublin Road, Killeen, Newry, Co Down, was found not guilty of both offences.
Mr Matthews was remanded on bail until next Tuesday, when he will face charges of membership of an unlawful organisation.
Fee was remanded in custody until Tuesday when the court will fix a date for sentencing.
Delivering the verdict against Fee, Mr Justice O'Donovan said: "Viewed collectively, pieces of evidence point inexorably to the conclusion that Joseph Fee was part of a joint enterprise for the manufacture of a bomb."
The court heard that it was "beyond the realm of coincidence" that Fee should be seen driving to the farmyard on the morning of June 13th, the same day that quantities of explosives had been found by gardaí, and in the course of that journey was followed by a stolen van in which a large bag of explosive substance was subsequently found.
Fee was also implicated with the cement mixer in which traces of the explosive substance were found at the farmyard.
The court heard that while Fee did not have physical contact with the cement mixer, the mixer was delivered to his house the previous night and "found its way" to the same farmyard which Fee visited on three occasions the following day, June 13th.
The court also heard that a collision between a Garda car and Fee's van was an attempt by Fee to evade capture, as there was no doubt that Fee would have recognised he was being confronted by gardaí.
Mr Justice O'Donovan told the court that there was no foundation whatsoever to the suggestion by defence counsel, Mr Paul Burns SC, that a bucket found in Fee's van, which contained an explosive substance, had been "planted" there by members of the Garda after Fee had been arrested.
The combined weight of the explosives seized at the farmyard was 1,100lb which, if detonated, could cause damage up to a distance of 500 metres.
The court was told during the trial that Fee and Mr Matthews were arrested after a major Garda operation in north Co Louth last year.
The operation culminated on June 13th, when gardaí entered a farmyard and shed at Thornfield and found two men in the course of manufacturing a bomb.
Mr Matthews was found not guilty on the basis that the evidence against him was largely circumstantial.