A Dublin man has been jailed for seven years for the possession of an improvised bomb, which gardaí found in his car on the M50 West-Link toll plaza last year.
At the non-jury Special Criminal Court, Martin O'Rourke (23), Sheepmore Grove, Blanchardstown, Dublin, had pleaded guilty to knowingly possessing an explosive device at the West-Link toll bridge in Castleknock on December 8th, 2005.
Mr Justice Paul Butler, presiding at the three-judge court, said yesterday the device was "extremely dangerous".
He said that while he took into account that O'Rourke admitted he had a bomb in his possession, he also told gardaí to "get me out of here".
He noted that O'Rourke's refusal to co-operate and reveal the origins of the bomb had left "many problems" for the gardaí as part of their ongoing investigations.
While he agreed that O'Rourke's previous convictions were "completely different", he said they could not be described as minor because he was already serving a two-year sentence.
Det Supt Diarmuid O'Sullivan told the court that O'Rourke had been under surveillance when gardaí from the Special Detective Unit stopped his car on the M50 on suspicion of possessing explosives.
O'Rourke told armed gardaí, who took him from the car, that a bomb was in the back. When they asked him what kind, he replied "it's nitro something". He told them it was ready to go off in 15 minutes. He added: "Get me out of here."
Army bomb disposal units were called and the toll plaza was closed down while necessary traffic diversions were put in place.
Army officers found a plastic bag and lunch-box on the back seat of the car, along with metal piping, battery material, gun powder, parts of a clock and a balaclava.
They said all of the components had been wired together to form an improvised explosive device, or pipe-bomb, normally placed underneath the petrol tank of a car where it could do damage up to 250 metres away when exploding.
In his defence, Paul Burns SC, said O'Rourke seemed to have been unaware as to the nature of explosives he had in his car.
He also said he wrongly believed the bomb was due to explode in 15 minutes, as the device did not explode before the disposal unit successfully destroyed it over half-an-hour later.
"Like many young men he was a very restless soul and fell into criminal activity of a lesser scale which many young men fall into," Mr Burns said.
While many turned away from this type of crime in their early 20s, "unfortunately that didn't happen" in this case.
Mr Burns added that his client now realised "too late in the day" the gravity of his offences.
Det Supt O'Sullivan denied any suggestion that O'Rourke did not understand the type of bomb he had in his car.
"I believed the bomb was primed to go off," he told prosecuting counsel Tom O'Connell SC. "He meant it was to go off in 15 minutes," he added.
He also said O'Rourke was "totally unco-operative" when interviewed about the origin of the bomb. "This left many problems for us," he said.
Det Supt O'Sullivan said O'Rourke had a number of previous convictions for "non-subversive offences", including public order offences, trespassing and unlawful taking.
He also revealed that O'Rourke was out on bail when he was found with the device.
He charged in 2004 with the unlawful use of a motorbike, handling a stolen jacket and helmet, dangerous driving and failing to stop when directed to do so by gardaí.