McDowell: Bomb makers dishonouring term 'republican'

The Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said this afternoon that those implicated in the M-50 bomb find last night were spitting on the word “republic”.

Minister McDowell was reacting to the discovery of a pipe bomb in a car at the West Link toll bridge.

Speaking this afternoon in Neilstown, Dublin, he accepted that this was a serious development. However, he rejected claims that gang feuds in the city were spiralling out of control.

The minister said last night’s incident showed that all paramilitaries really were criminals at heart

He went on to say that those who provided the bomb claimed to be republican. He said: “they are spitting on the word “republic” and are besmirching the Irish Flag."