The Minister for Justice has ordered an "urgent" review of the availability of ammonium nitrate fertiliser in Ireland, following fears that it could be used by Islamic terrorists for bomb-making.
Mr McDowell ordered the review after British authorities thwarted an Islamic terrorist plot to explode a 500kg ammonium nitrate fertiliser bomb in London last month.
The compound was also used by terrorists in the bomb attack on the British consulate in Istanbul last year, which killed 27 people, and the Bali bombing in October 2002, which killed 202.
Pure ammonium nitrate fertiliser has been effectively banned in the Republic and Northern Ireland since the early 1970s, when it was declared an explosive and subjected to the same strict import, licensing and storage restrictions as commercial explosives. Its sale and distribution is also tightly restricted in the rest of Europe.
However, a blended form of the fertiliser is still legally available in Ireland. Last year more than 100,000 tonnes of the fertiliser, which contains up to 79 per cent pure ammonium nitrate, was imported into Ireland from various countries in eastern Europe, principally Russia.
The Government has resisted pressure from Northern authorities and the Irish fertiliser industry to ban a blended form of ammonium nitrate fertiliser, which is still legal in the Republic.
In 1996 authorities in Northern Ireland banned the blended fertiliser, because of security concerns that it could be separated using a simple mechanical process.
Police authorities in the North and the Northern Ireland Office have both raised concerns with counterparts in the Republic about the unrestricted importation of blended ammonium nitrate fertiliser.
Irish fertiliser companies have also been lobbying for it to be restricted on the grounds of safety and have claimed it could be separated easily. Most Irish firms produce calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) fertiliser, which would have to undergo a chemical process to extract the ammonium nitrate.
Last week, in a written Dáil reply to the Labour leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, Mr McDowell said that four years ago the Government considered a restriction on the blended fertiliser, through designating it as an explosive.
"Following consultation with all relevant agencies, including the Forensic Science Laboratory, the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development and the State Laboratory, it was decided that such an amendment was not necessary," he said.
"However, in the light of recent events and the concerns expressed in relation to certain imports, I have asked officials of my Department to consult urgently with all relevant State agencies and the industry to examine these substances with a view to assessing the ease of segregation of ammonium nitrate from the blended fertiliser and to make recommendations in relation to the control of the substances."
Yesterday a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said that tests on the blended fertiliser were to be carried out later this week to examine the ease with which it could be separated.
Meanwhile a major security review is under way at major Irish ports, as part of international anti-terrorism plans.
Under measures agreed by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), Ireland along with other IMO members has to have new security regimes in place at major ports by July 1st this year.
Irish ports are required to submit new security plans to the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources by the end of this month.
The measures arose out of proposals from the United States authorities, which were concerned that lax security regimes at international sea ports posed a major terrorist threat in the wake of September 11th, 2002.