Senior officers from European security agencies are attending a conference in Malahide, Co Dublin on emerging threats from terrorist groups around the world.
It is the third conference in the Oisin Programme being run by the Garda Siochana and Department of Justice under EU auspices.
Yesterday's conference, which was closed to the media, was addressed by senior Garda officers including the chief superintendent from the crime and security section at Garda Headquarters.
This section is effectively the Republic's secret service, collating information about terrorism and liaising with other European security agencies and anti-terrorism police units, including Britain's MI5.
A senior ballistics expert from the Garda Technical Bureau also addressed the conference. Garda and RUC ballistic experts have some of the most advanced understanding of "improvised", or "home-made" terrorist weapons.
The weapons manufactured by the Provisional IRA were among the most advanced constructed outside the conventional arms industries. There are long-standing suspicions that terrorist groups have exchanged technical knowledge.
The two-day conference is being chaired by Assistant Commissioner Pat O'Toole, head of the crime and security section. It was opened yesterday by the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue. The Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, will give the closing address today.
Among those attending was Mr Willy Bruggernam, director of Europol, the EU anti-drugs agency which is designed to facilitate the exchange of criminal intelligence between EU police forces. Senior officers from Russia and Hungary, and US Federal Judge Mr Richard Starns are also attending.
The Oisin Programme was instigated in 1996 when Ireland held the EU Presidency as a means to enhance co-operation between police forces and security agencies over terrorism and organised crime. The last Oisin conference, in Monaghan earlier this year, concentrated on organised drug trafficking.