Two Co Louth men have been convicted at the Special Criminal Court of having a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device in 2010.
Conan Murphy (25), with an address at Plaster, Mount Pleasant, Dundalk, Co Louth, was found guilty of the possession of explosive substances at Aghaboys, Mount Pleasant on May 22nd, 2010.
His co-accused Philip McKevitt (58) of Aghaboys, Mount Pleasant,was also found guilty of the same offence at his home on the same date.
During the trial, the court heard gardaí who raided McKevitt's home discovered in an outbuilding an "adaptive" advertising trailer constructed for the purposes of concealing two gas containers which in turn had been modified to cause an explosion.
The court heard evidence during the trial - which started last November - that gardaí had placed the address in Co Louth under surveillance as part of an operation focusing on the suspected movement and manufacture of
vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices by members of the IRA.
The court also heard gardaí uncovered 377m of green-camouflaged wire which was intended to be used as a "command wire" from a firing pack.
It was the prosecution's case that the arrest of the men in such close proximity to the material uncovered, together with evidence gleaned from their arrest, indicated the two were in possession of explosive substances.
Convicting the two men today, Mr Justice Paul Butler, presiding, said that while in McKevitt's case there was insufficient DNA evidence to link him to the gas cylinders, the court was satisfied beyond doubt that he
was in possession of the objects, having regard to his control over the shed, the surveillance evidence and evidence of location at the time of his arrest.
In Murphy's case, the judge said that the court found his account of why he was in the shed to be "incredible". The court was satisfied beyond a doubt that he was in possession of the objects found in the shed.
The court remanded both men in custody for sentencing on March 9th.