DUP Junior Minister Jeffrey Donaldson has rejected claims that the increase in the number of bombs found is evidence that dissidents have access to Provisional stockpiles.
It has emerged that the projectile device fired at a PSNI car in Fermanagh on August 15 was of Provisional IRA manufacture.
Meanwhile, in June three other PSNI officers had a narrow escape when a landmine containing 300lbs of home-made explosives
failed to detonate near the border in Co Fermanagh.
A timer recovered at the scene is thought to also have been manufactured by the Provisionals.
South of the border, a pipe-bomb exploded on the window sill of a derelict house in Emerald Place, off Cork Street in south Dublin, two weeks ago.
So far this year the Irish army said it has dealt with 70 improvised bombs so far.
In Northern Ireland, Army technical officers were tasked by the PSNI a total of 234 times between July 2007 and July 2008 to deal with suspect devices.
IRA decommissioning took place in 2005. At the time, head of the arms decommissioning body General John de Chastelain said he was “satisfied that the arms decommissioned represent the totality of the IRA’s arsenal”.
However, Mr Donaldson said the weaponry being used by dissidents was brought over by disaffected former Provisional members before decommissioning.
“The Chief Constable indicated there was evidence that dissident republicans have procured some of the weaponry previously held by the IRA before they moved across,” he said.
“The evidence at the moment seems to indicate that this stuff is quite old and probably transferred across several years ago when the dissident groups were being established.
“Former quarter masters seem to have taken a lot of this stuff just before they moved across to the form the dissident groups.
“However, we are concerned about the fact that Semtex in particular is being used and we will be talking to the police again about this to ensure that everything is being done to take this stuff out of circulation and thwart the efforts of those who would bring us back to the bad old days of shootings and bombings.
“From our discussions with the Chief Constable, [we have learned that] he does not have evidence that the IRA has handed anything over to the dissident republicans.”
