The concerted Garda effort against anti-Belfast Agreement republicans continued over the weekend with the seizure of 20 complete mortars, firearms and other military equipment. The equipment was found in searches in a small area around the Kildare-Carlow-Laois border.
Senior Garda sources indicated yesterday that the weapons belong to the "Real IRA", the group responsible for the Omagh bombing.
The Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, has said on a number of occasions this year that combating the dissident republican elements is his top priority. The RUC Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, has also stated that the "Real IRA" poses the biggest single threat to the peace process.
It was the third major operation against the "Real IRA" in the past two weeks. The Garda, RUC and British police and intelligence services have been devoting considerable efforts to investigating the activities of the group, which has been recruiting new members and improving its military capabilities.
Two men from Co Kildare were arrested as part of the operation in the midlands on Saturday. Last night they appeared before Naas District Court, where gardai were granted permission to continue their detention for a further 24 hours under the terms of the Offences Against the State Act. The two are expected to appear before the Special Criminal Court later today.
The search followed another operation last week in which police in Slovakia arrested and detained three men, all from the Cooley peninsula, Co Louth.
These two operations were preceded by the seizure of several hundred pounds of fertiliser-based explosive along with around £30,000 worth of cannabis and ecstasy at a "Real IRA" bomb factory at Colman's Island in Co Monaghan two weeks ago.
Gardai say the "Real IRA" is heavily involved in smuggling and extortion in Border areas and has been engaged in drug trafficking.
Yesterday's finds were the work of combined efforts by the Garda Special Detective Unit, the National Surveillance Unit and local gardai.
The first find yesterday, at Milltown, included seven mortar tubes. A short time later another 13 tubes and 20 missiles were found at Vicarstown.
Later in the afternoon gardai recovered two AK-47 assault rifles, one a Chinese model, a revolver and 250 rounds of ammunition. They also recovered body armour, combat fatigues, balaclavas and other terrorist paraphernalia.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, congratulated the Garda. He added: "It is imperative that the politicians who are meeting over the coming days in Shropshire make progress in implementing in full the Good Friday agreement so that the initiative is not yielded to those who continue to defy the will of the Irish people and resort to violence to achieve their aims."