Three "arrogant and callous" university students, believed to be members of the "Real IRA", were sentenced to a total of 69 years in prison at the Old Bailey in London yesterday for planning a firebomb campaign in the city last year.
Their intention, the court was told, was to bring the fledgling peace process in Northern Ireland to a violent end, just months after the Belfast Agreement was signed.
Anthony Hyland (26), of no given address, and described as the ringleader, was sentenced to 25 years for conspiracy to cause explosions.
The two other men, Darren Mulholland (20), from Dundalk, Co Louth, and Liam Grogan (22), from Naas, Co Kildare, were each sentenced to 22 years. The three are the only Irish terrorists now held in prison in Britain.
Passing sentence after nearly 13 hours of deliberation by the jury, Mr Justice Klevan told the men that although he did not believe they had intended to murder, "there was a substantial risk of death and injury . . . You know these acts were on the community and were politically motivated.
"You wanted no part in any peace initiative in Northern Ireland. You wanted to carry on and bomb your way to a solution which would satisfy yourselves."
British police and MI5 officers arrested the three men, who were trained in anti-surveillance methods, on July 10th last year after an intelligence tip-off from the Garda. The men were about to plant six firebomb devices.
Hyland was discovered carrying the six devices in a rucksack, intending to plant them in nearby furnishing stores. He had brought the devices with him from Ireland wrapped in plastic film and covered with talcum powder to avoid detection by sniffer dogs.
Hyland and Mulholland were observed taking separate flights from Dublin to London on July 3rd, 1998. They spent the night at separate addresses in London and returned to Dublin the next day. While he was in London, Mulholland visited furnishing shops in Fulham, west London, "and within a week there were six incendiary devices here," said Mr Nigel Sweeney for the prosecution.
By July 9th, after buying mobile telephones at different shops using false names, Hyland returned to London via the Holyhead ferry. He was carrying a rucksack, believed to have contained Semtex explosives and incendiary devices.
The Semtex was later found at a flat where a Dublin woman, Ms Elaine Moore, was living. She was also arrested and charged with conspiracy to cause explosions and possession of explosives, but was later released after the CPS decided there was not enough evidence to pursue a case.
The court was told that Grogan, who had just gained a degree in commerce from University College Dublin, where he met Hyland through the debating society and playing football, helped transport the contents of the explosive devices.
Mulholland was in the second year of a theoretical physics degree at Queen's University Belfast, and his role was to reconnoitre potential targets.
PA adds: The Ulster Unionist MP, Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, called on the British government to give a firm undertaking that the trio would not be permitted to take advantage of the early-release scheme set up under the Belfast Agreement.