Gardaí have examined the scene of a pipe bomb explosion in north Dublin.
Labour Party TD Tommy Broughan: 'dastardly act ... clearly designed to kill'
It was confirmed this morning that the device was used in an attack on a house on Glin Road, Coolock yesterday afternoon. Detectives sealed off the area as darkness fell and returned this morning to investigate.
The house is believed to belong to a car dealer but it is thought possible the man was not the intended target of the attack.
A Garda spokeswoman said the area was examined this morning and the remains of the device taken away for further tests. She said there was no indictation of a motive for the attack.
The potentially lethal device exploded after it fell off the boot of a car outside the house when the car was being moved out of the garden. Nobody was injured in the incident.
According to reports the device was built using a thermos flask and was packed with nails and shotgun pellets. However these parts of the bomb had fallen to the ground before it exploded and people in the area ran away.
Defence Forces spokesman Commandant Brian Cleary said: "There have been a number of similar devices found in recent months in Dublin". "They were well reported incidents along the M50 and in other areas of Dublin before Christmas."
Labour Party TD Tommy Broughan condemned the incident which he described as a "dastardly act that was clearly designed to kill."
"It is an absolute miracle that no lives were lost following yesterday's attack... this crude device was planted on a parked vehicle in a heavily residential area, alive with families and children.
"Clearly the cowards who planted it didn't care one bit about the potential loss of innocent life this bomb could have inflicted had it exploded at a different time."
In December gardaí intercepted a bomb contained in a lunchbox in a car on the M50. The bomb was primed and is believed to have been on its way to be used against a well-known drug dealer in the Blanchardstown area. It was believed that this device had been made by dissident republicans and supplied to criminals.
