ONE of the men being held in London following this week's raids by police is said by gardai to be a close associate of the Monaghan man reputed to be the IRA chief-of-staff.
Five IRA suspects were still being questioned by anti terrorist detectives last night, as the parents of Mr Diarmuid O'Neill (27) shot dead during Monday's security operation travelled from Kilbrittain, Co Cork, to London to formally identify his body and to attend the inquest. It will open at 9.30 a.m. today in Fulham Magistrates Court, London. It is expected to adjourn after hearing evidence of identification.
The raids in London and Sussex yielded more than 10 tons of home made explosives, foiling what security authorities believe was an intended pre-election terror blitz in Britain.
As extensive forensic examinations continued yesterday the police refused to identify the men being held at Paddington Green high security station.
One man is understood to be a recently qualified British Airways engineer who was arrested at Gatwick Airport. It is understood this man comes originally from Lisburn, Co Antrim.
The man associated with the IRA chief-of-staff is understood to have been among a group of IRA men who were arrested with two stolen cars in the Christchurch area of Dublin two weeks after the IRA broke its ceasefire on February 9th and bombed Canary Wharf in London.
Two of the other men in the cars are still being sought by gardai investigating the murder of Garda Jerry McCabe, in Limerick in May.
Buildings in Clones, Co Monaghan, where the arrested man lives were searched yesterday by gardai.
The man, who comes from Co Fermanagh but has been living in Monaghan for five years, is said by gardai to have been in regular contact with the IRA chief of staff who also lives in Monaghan.
He had been implicated in a number of robberies in Co Fermanagh in the late 1980s and moved to the Republic. No extradition warrant was issued for his arrest, however.
The man is said by gardai to have disappeared from Monaghan in July and this information was relayed to British police.
Three houses in Co Longford were also searched yesterday. An Irishman from Birmingham, who had family connections with Longford and who had spent time in the county recently, is one of those being held in London. There were no reports of anything being found in the searches.
There are now concerns that the success of the British police in recovering enough explosives for five bombs of the same size as those which caused massive damage at Canary Wharf and Manchester might cause a retrenchment within the IRA after hopes that the organisation was moving towards a ceasefire.
The Sinn Fein chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, said yesterday that the events in London underlined the need for "re-establishing a credible and effective peace process".
It is believed Mr and Mrs O'Neill lived in London until their retirement two years ago. Diarmuid, and his brother Shane, attended London's Catholic Brompton Oratory School.
The headmaster, Mr John Mackintosh, said last night that he remembered Diarmuid, who joined the school in 1980, as a "well behaved boy who just got on with his work".
London police last night declined to comment on British newspaper reports that Diarmuid O'Neill was unarmed when he was shot dead. A spokesman for the Police Complaints Authority said it was far too early to say exactly what had happened, however.