Two Limerick men have pleaded guilty to IRA membership in advance of their Special Criminal Court trial, which had been adjourned in what was the first criminal case affected by the garda taping revelations.

The state-of-the-art Garda recording system had the capability to record more than 300 phone lines all day, every day, over a six-year period.

The Special Criminal Court has ruled that the trial of two men for IRA membership can proceed after hearing evidence that there are no recording facilities at Clonmel and Cahir Garda stations where the men were detained after arrest.

Trials and convictions of suspected murderers, rapists, terrorists, and other serious criminals are in jeopardy as the fallout from the Garda bugging scandal becomes clearer.