The Special Criminal Court has ruled that members of the public should be excluded from the court when six members of the Garda National Surveillance Unit give evidence in the trial of eight Dublin men accused of IRA membership.

Two Limerick men have each received two-and-a-half year jail sentences for membership of the IRA last year.

The Special Criminal Court has heard there was a tracking device on a car believed to be used in a drive-by shooting in Co Meath.

The trial of three men from the North men charged with membership of the IRA has heard that none of the accused were under surveillance before their arrest.

HALF joking, half serious, one experienced detective tackling a violent gang war in south Dublin described them as the “black ops” of the force.

Two men and a woman were being questioned by gardaí tonight over a suspected gun running plot.

GARDAÍ yesterday seized €2.8 million worth of drugs along with a firearm and ammunition in an operation targeting a north Dublin gang.

Three men were jailed by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today after a major garda operation against the Continuity IRA led to the discovery of a bomb making operation near the border last year.

The head of the Garda National Surveillance Unit told the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today he was involved "in a sensitive operation" during his observation of two men accused of membership of an illegal organisation.

Gardaí in Dublin have arrested a 42-year-old man following the seizure of counterfeit identification documents in the city yesterday.

An Englishman, described as a "very big-time player", who was part of a €1.5m heroin deal between two criminal gangs on both sides of the Irish Sea has been jailed for 12 years by Judge Frank O’Donnell at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Nine men were being questioned by gardaí today after the discovery of a suspected terrorist training camp.