GARDAI in Co Clare carried out early morning raids on a number of houses in Ennis and Shannon early yesterday morning.
This was the second such operation in recent weeks and documents seized during a previous raid in Shannon are at present being evaluated. The raids have been carried out under the Offences Against the State Act, 1939. No arrests were made during yesterday's operation.
Chief Supt Michael Carty, of Ennis, said the operation was ongoing and he could not give precise details of the searches, but they were acting on intelligence they had gathered.
One house raided in the previous Shannon operation was that of Shannon Town Commissioner, Mrs Bridget Makowski, who this week had a meeting with gardai and expressed strong reservations about the searches.
She said yesterday that people of a republican background were angry at the raids and felt they were being victimised and harassed. She added: "The majority of republicans are trying to get involved in the democratic process. People with Northern accents in Shannon are being victimised."
She felt the republican community should get together on this issue and she was prepared to go to the European Court of Human Rights, if necessary, in an attempt to stop this type of Garda activity.
Chief Supt Carty denied republicans were being victimised by the gardai and added: "This is a completely wrong perception as this is a professional police operation."
He said the searches were not carried out on a whim and it was the job of the gardai to follow up on the intelligence they received.
He added he could give no assurances that there would not be further raids. "People can be assured that houses will not be searched unless we have good intelligence, he said.
Meanwhile a Garda spokesman said another operation in the Ennis Shannon region early on Tuesday morning, involving 50 gardai, "was designed to combat criminal activity".
The operation, which followed a six week surveillance at travelling community halting sites, resulted in the seizure of £20,000 worth of goods.
Three people were detained and one is expected to appear before Ennis District Court tomorrow.