Detectives questioning six men

Detectives investigating the activities of dissident republicans were today questioning six men after bomb-making material was found in Co Louth.

The men – believed to include a leading member of the Real IRA – were held in Garda custody overnight after a series of raids in Co Louth.

Gardaí from the Emergency Response Unit helped local officers search an outhouse in the Inniskeen area, between Dundalk and Carrickmacross, yesterday afternoon.

A vehicle was seized and a quantity of bomb-making material was found.

Officers arrested four men at the scene and detained two more during follow-up searches in the Dundalk area.

The men ranged in age from their early 20s to mid-40s.

They were taken to Ashbourne and Balbriggan Garda Stations where they were held under the Offences against the State Act.

The area of the search was sealed off and a Garda operation centre was set up in Dundalk.