Pledge to end dissident violence

The house being built by Lord Ballyedmond was attacked

The Irish Foreign Minister, Dermot Ahern, has expressed concern at the recent upsurge in violence by dissident republican paramilitaries.

The Real IRA admitted a series of firebomb attacks on shops in Newry.

A bomb at a house owned by Ulster Unionist peer Edward Haughey in County Louth is being blamed on dissidents.

Mr Ahern said it was "part of a pattern of violence". A senior police officer said the PSNI were "on top" of the dissident republican threat.

Paul Leighton, deputy chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, told the BBC's Five Live programme: "We are successful against the dissident republicans and we will continue to work with the Garda.

"We are working very, very hard on this problem and we think we're on top of it."

Mr Ahern said the government were determined to eradicate such attacks.

"The bombing of Newry, a town which was going from strength to strength, and now this incident at Eddie Haughey's - it again just makes the Irish government much more resolute in what we're doing," he said.

"(We are) working hand in glove with the British government and indeed our two police forces are working hand in glove in order to stamp this out, the entrails of this type of violence."

On Tuesday, a bomb at a house being built by Mr Haughey, now known as Lord Ballyedmond, contained 70 pounds of homemade explosive mix packed into a gas cylinder.

CarpetRight was among the stores targeted in Newry

Gardai said it would have destroyed the house at Drumgooley it if had gone off.

The device, found by a farm labourer on Tuesday, had been packed into a cylinder and hidden in one of the walls of the house.

Security sources said dissident republicans were behind the attack.

Meanwhile, the dissident republican Real IRA claimed responsibility for the firebomb attacks on stores in Newry last week.

The blazes destroyed JJB Sports and CarpetRight stores in the town whilst a TK Maxx store and MFI outlet were among those badly damaged on Wednesday.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds in damage was said to have been caused to the premises.

Dissidents also caused travel disruption by claiming to have left devices on the railway line between Newry and Dundalk.