THE Garda and the RUC were last night still trying to trace the owner of a car on which the Army carried out a controlled explosion at Dublin Airport early yesterday morning.
The Army operation followed a warning from the Ulster Volunteer Force that two bombs had been planted at the airport.
A caller to the Irish News in Belfast, using a recognised code word, said one bomb had been planted in a car park at the airport and another on a runway.
Gardai said the Army bomb disposal team carried out the operation when the current owner of the Northern Ireland registered car could not be identified.
A Garda spokesman said last night that nothing suspicious had been found in the car, and the owner could simply be abroad.
"We don't know who owns it, and no one has come forward to maim it," he said.
The airport was sealed off from about 10 p.m. on Sunday. The Toyota Carina, parked near the rental car area, was identified as suspicious by security staff after a search.
The registered owner was contacted at his home in Castlewellan, Co Down, but he said he had sold the car in Belfast a month ago and did not know the identity of the purchaser. When this was conveyed to the Garda and Army personnel at the airport, they carried out the controlled explosion, shortly after 1.30 am.
The car was taken to Santry Garda station for forensic examination.
The bomb alert disrupted flights. But Aer Rianta said that once the all clear was given, the airport was "fully operational" again and functioned normally yesterday.
A spokesman could not give details of any security arrangements, but said procedures were reviewed after any incident.
In Dublin, neither the Government nor Fianna Fail spokesmen would make any comment.
In Belfast, the Progressive Unionist Party spokesman, Mr David Ervine, said there was "no question" but that the bomb alert was caused by the Ulster Volunteer Force.
But he said it was "unlikely" that it was sanctioned by the Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC).
The UVF in Mid Ulster said in its coded telephone warning that it was behind the alert, and that the Republic would pay "a very high price" for its alleged interference in Northern Ireland affairs.
Mr Ervine said he believed the decision to stage the hoax was taken unilaterally by the UVF.
However, he stressed that he believed the ceasefire by loyalist paramilitaries remains intact.
"As far as I am concerned there is still a loyalist ceasefire. We are assured by elements within the CLMC that they are in full control," he said.
Mr Ervine said the hoax was mainly provoked by the "extremely green attitudes" from politicians in the Republic. They were conveying the impression that Sinn Fein should be allowed into all party talks without a resumption of an IRA ceasefire.
In the event of an IRA ceasefire, he believed the current tensions would ease.
Mr Gary McMichael, the Ulster Democratic Party leader, said the airport incident placed a "question mark" over the current state of the loyalist ceasefire. But he agreed with Mr Ervine that the ceasefire was intact.