The Minister for Justice Michael McDowell tonight warned trust was being eroded after two alleged former IRA men were arrested with another man following the hijacking of a lorry load of vodka in Co Meath.
The gang ambushed the driver near Dunshaughlin at 11am as the truck, laden with €300,000 worth of drink, made its way from Bailieboro to Dublin.
One of the men being quizzed over the attempted heist was reportedly freed under the Good Friday
Minister for Justice Michael McDowell
Agreement after serving part of a six-year jail term for possession of explosives.
"The real problem is that it's very unhelpful to the creation of trust on both sides of the border and in both communities in Northern Ireland," Mr McDowell said.
"As long as the IRA continues to exist, then all of these problems arise. As long as the constitution of the IRA remains treasonable and subversive to the authority of the Irish state, all of these problems continue to arise."
Mr McDowell said: "It does depend very much as to whether this (the hijacking) was something done as part of a paramilitary exercise or purely for private gain."
In a statement this evening Sinn Fein said the Meath hijack was a purely criminal matter that should be investigated by gardai and prosecuted in the courts.
Gardai said the three-man gang set up an ambush on a busy stretch of the Delvin to Athboy road hijacking the valuable cargo of vodka.
The container was found around an hour later in the Delvin area of Co Westmeath where the three men were arrested. A 4x4 vehicle was also seized by detectives. It is understood gardai in Delvin became suspicious following a series of events in the area from early this morning.
The trio are being detained under Section Four of the Criminal Justice Act and are at Mullingar and Longford Garda Stations. Two of the men, who are reported to have
strong links to the Provisional IRA, are believed to be from Westmeath and the third man, who is also known to gardai, is from Co Meath.
The truck driver, who was later found in Co Kildare, was not injured in the hijack. A forensic examination of the container will be carried out by detectives tomorrow.