Gardaí arrest armed IRA suspect

A SUSPECTED republican dissident, arrested by armed detectives, was carrying a loaded handgun when he was picked up on a Cork street.

The suspect, a 30-year-old man originally from Limerick, was arrested around 10pm on Thursday.

Armed detectives surrounded the man in Barrack Street. When the man was searched, detectives discovered he was carrying a loaded gun, the Garda Press Office confirmed.

Gardaí said the man was arrested as part of an ongoing operation against the activities of dissident republicans in the Munster area.

He is believed to be a member of the Continuity IRA and had been living in Cork for some time. It is understood he has no criminal convictions.

He was being questioned last night at the Bridewell Garda Station. He is being detained under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State and can be held for up to 72 hours.

The arrest appears to have been carried out in a fairly low key manner.

The Continuity IRA, a small dissident group politically aligned to Republican Sinn Fein, has support mainly in the Limerick and border areas.

A number of its members have been jailed in recent months.

In February, nine people received prison sentences after they were caught at a training camp in the Comeragh Mountains. Last December, three men from the border area were convicted following an operation against the CIRA.

Two, Seamus McKenna and Joe Fee, are believed to be leading members of the group. McKenna is one of five man named in a civil suit taken by the relatives of those who died in the Omagh bombing.