GARDAI have foiled a RIRA plot to launch bomb attacks on rival city gangs.
A massive haul of Semtex has been discovered at a secret Real IRA arms depot in Cloghran, north Dublin.
Gardai believe the 20kg of explosives was to be used in potentially devastating attacks on city gangs.
The deadly cache was discovered after a close associate of murdered ex-terror boss Alan Ryan was arrested at the scene.
Senior IRA figures are suspected of importing the highly dangerous substance as they prepared to launch a series of "spectacular" attacks on their rivals.
Should all the explosives test positive for semtex, it will be one of the biggest captures of semtex in the country in recent years.
And last night, gardai were continuing their search at the site after pipebombs, bomb-making paraphernalia and ammunition were also found.
The significant quantity of suspected semtex was foundduring a massive garda dig at a site in Cloghran, North Dublin, yesterday.
A major garda alert has been issued after significant quantities of plastic explosives was discovered during the dig.
Just 24 hours earlier, a close associate of murdered Real IRA boss Alan Ryan was arrested by detectives on the scene.
Substance
A source last night said the substance is suspected to be Semtex. However, further forensic tests were being carried out on the substance today.
"What was discovered was far more alarming that we anticipated. For the IRA to have Semtex would give them the capabilities of carrying out spectacular attacks," the source explained.
Semtex has been used in some horrific explosions and was acquired by the IRA from former Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi in the mid-1980s.
It was also used by the IRA to carry out terrorist bombings in London in the 1990s and has also been used during dissident attacks on police in the North.
The infamous Canary Wharf bomb in London in 1996 contained less than 14kg of Semtex. The Real IRA used Semtex in the Omagh bombing which claimed 29 lives.
The quantity found yesterday was being examined by bomb experts today and is due to be transferred to the forensic laboratory for further testing.
Investigators also seized a a raft of bomb-making equipment which was being stored by dissidents believed to be planning a wave of attacks on rival criminals.
Sources told the Herald that equipment discovered at the site was "highly advanced" and had the capability of causing extensive bloodshed.
"The IRA has been in turmoil since the death of Alan Ryan but what was found shows they are growing extremely strong – and rapidly so," a senior source explained.
A dissident figure, who was a close associate of Ryan, was arrested by gardai at the site on Tuesday.
He was being questioned last night along with eight other senior figures who are believed to have formed the new leadership of the Real IRA.
Searches
Given the scale of what was discovered, investigators called in Army personnel to carry out extensive tests. Meanwhile, detectives were today continuing to carry out searches on both sides of the city as a crackdown on dissident activity entered a critical stage.
The arrest in Cloghran was part of the a major intelligence- gathering operation that also led to eight men being arrested at a house in Tallaght.
The men, two of whom are considered Real IRA bosses, were swooped upon while holding a "strategy meeting" at a property in Glenshane Crescent.
Sources believe the men were plotting further attacks on rival dissidents which has left the IRA on a knife edge.
The news of the bomb depot comes as the Herald has learned that a senior dissident figure from the North was expelled from the Real IRA this week.
The individual, who is well known to both gardai and the PSNI, was forced out of the criminal organisation as part of the major clean-up ordered by Northern bosses.
