The Department of Justice is to decide in the next few weeks on whether to ban a type of fertiliser, following a demonstration to officials and gardaí that it could easily be separated into an explosive compound.
The demonstration, which took place last Friday, extracted a pure form of ammonium nitrate from a blended form of the fertiliser using simple sieving and colour separation techniques.
Pure ammonium nitrate is a highly explosive compound and has been used in recent Islamic terrorist attacks.
It has been effectively banned as a fertiliser in Ireland since 1972, when it was designated an explosive.
However, blended ammonium nitrate has been available legally in Ireland, and is being imported into the country from Eastern Europe in increasing quantities.
Last year over 100,000 tonnes was imported, mainly from Russia.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said that further tests had to be carried out on the substance separated during the demonstration to establish the concentration of ammonium nitrate.
She said the Department also intends to convene a meeting within the next few weeks involving officials from the Department, senior gardaí, and Government explosive experts to advise on whether to introduce restrictions on the product.
Authorities in Northern Ireland have previously raised concerns about the availability of the blended fertiliser in the Republic, having designated it as an explosive in 1996.
The Irish fertiliser industry, which produces a more expensive form of fertiliser, calcium ammonium nitrate, has also been lobbying the Government for a ban, arguing that it poses a security risk.
Previously the Government has refused to introduce such a ban, basing its decision on tests carried out in the State Laboratory four years ago, which concluded that the explosive compound could not be easily extracted from the blended fertiliser.