Man held after Dublin car bomb found hours before Giro d’Italia stage arrived in city

Race danger ... German Marcel Kittel, left, won the Giro d’Italia stage as it entered Dublin. Picture: Luk Benies Source:AFP

AN ALLEGED hardline IRA member has been arrested after a huge car bomb was found in Dublin hours before the Giro d'Italia cycling race.

The bomb, reportedly containing 22 kilograms of explosives made from fertiliser, was found in a Northern Ireland-registered vehicle in a hotel car park on Saturday night, police say.

On Sunday, Germany’s Marcel Kittel won his second successive Giro d’Italia stage win on the final day of the race in Ireland.

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There was no immediate claim of responsibility but suspicion fell on dissident republican groups opposed to the peace process in Northern Ireland.

“The viable device was located in a car in the car park of the hotel at approximately 9pm on May 10,” police said in a statement on Monday.

They said the bomb was not primed.

Troubled route... The Giro d’Italia cycling race also passed through Belfast. Picture: Peter Morrison Source: AP

Finnstown Country House, a luxury hotel in west Dublin that was hosting a wedding at the time, was evacuated while army bomb disposal units made the device safe.

Tens of thousands of people lined the route in Dublin on Sunday to cheer on the cyclists with millions more watching around the world.

A 55-year-old man was arrested on Sunday, police said.

It is understood he has close links to the Real IRA, a breakaway faction of the Provisional IRA that remains active despite the Northern Ireland peace process.

The Guardian reported the explosive was destined for a republican dissident attack across the border and the hotel was not the target.

The bomb scare comes amid heightened tensions over the arrest in Northern Ireland earlier this month of Gerry Adams, the leader of the Republican Sinn Fein party, over a notorious IRA murder.

Around 3500 people died in three decades of violence between Protestants favouring continued union of Northern Ireland with Britain, and Catholics seeking a unified Ireland.