Residents were evacuated from their homes in a Limerick suburb yesterday after gardaí seized a massive haul of commercial explosives.
Gardaí said last night that the seizure at a house in Dooradoyle was part of their ongoing investigations into subversive activity in Munster and along the western seaboard.
A 34-year-old man was arrested at the scene and brought to Ennis Garda Station where he was being detained last night under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.
Gardaí from the Limerick and Clare divisions backed up by members of the Emergency Response Unit entered the house at Greenview Drive, Glencairin, at 4 p.m. yesterday.
Up to 20 cases of commercial explosives were seized as well as a number of detonators in a van outside the house and in a garden shed.
Supt John Kerin of Ennis last night described the seizure as one of the biggest of its type in the history of the State.
The house containing the explosives and up to five other neighbouring homes were sealed off last night, and members of the Army bomb disposal squad were called from their Cork base to examine the site.
Residents from another 20 homes in the Dooradoyle housing estate were evacuated as a further safety precaution.
It is understood that the detained man is originally from the Dublin area and had been living in the mid-west for five years.
Under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act he can be held for up to 72 hours without charge.
One theory being explored by gardaí last night was the possibility that the suspect may have links to the dissident republican group, the Continuity IRA.
The detailed examination of the house by the Army and members of the Garda Technical Bureau is expected to continue for much of the weekend.