Two men have been found not guilty of IRA membership following a Special Criminal Court trial in which an FBI agent uncovered a Dublin-based plot to buy a grenade and Semtex online.

Judges at the Special Criminal Court have said they will deliver a verdict in the case of two men accused of IRA membership next month after the court heard closing speeches today from the prosecution and defence.

There is an “unprecedented” number of people before the courts or in custody on suspicion of conspiracy to murder, Garda bosses investigating the Kinahan crime cartel have said.

In relation to Ireland, the threat level from international terrorism is constantly under review and that remains the case after the Manchester bombing, writes Cormac O’Keeffe.

A dispute over the legality of the detention of two men alleged to have murdered dissident republican Peter Butterly continued today at the Special Criminal Court.

Garda intelligence services have been dealt a blow with the retirement of its chief with uncertainty as to how long it will take to fill his position.

The Special Criminal Court has ruled that evidence from 11 members of the Garda National Surveillance Unit in the retrial of two men accused of the murder of dissident republican Peter Butterly almost four years ago should be given anonymously and with the public excluded from court.

There has been a 150% jump in the use of covert surveillance by gardaí on gangs and dissident republicans in the last year.

The Government yesterday appointed eleven senior officers in a bid to fill “critical vacancies” in the Garda Síochána.

The Garda Representative Association said the exemptions they have given to 18 units and areas will provide a “skeletal service” to protect the community and the State today.

A court has ruled against surveillance gardaí who claimed that revealing the number of officers who observe suspects from cars would allow other suspects to know which cars “to look for”.

Members of the public were excluded from the Special Criminal Court today during evidence by members of the Garda National Surveillance Unit in the trial of eight Dublin men accused of IRA men membership in 2013.

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.

Garda management and representative associations hope to reach agreement by Christmas on changes to a roster system heavily criticised in the Garda Inspectorate’s report last week.

Security arrangements are being made for a former murderer accused turned prosecution witness to give evidence in the Special Criminal Court trial of three men charged with murdering dissident republican Peter Butterly.

A garda member of the National Surveillance Unit (NSU) who was present in a car park shortly after dissident republican Peter Butterly was shot dead there gave evidence at the Special Criminal Court today at the trial of three men accused of the murder.

The trial of three men charged with murdering dissident republican Peter Butterly is "the first case in the history of the state" where a tracking device has been mentioned, a senior garda told the Special Criminal Court today.

IT COULD well be the case that the crises over policing and oversight that rocked the country this year could be replicated down the road in relation to the shadowy world of national security.

The Special Criminal Court has directed that the public be excluded from court while gardaí from the National Surveillance Unit give evidence in the trial of three men charged with murdering dissident republican Peter Butterly.

Specialist surveillance gardaí will not be allowed give evidence from behind a screen at the non-jury trial of three men accused of murdering dissident republican Peter Butterly.

A man who extorted over €250,000 from a fish and chip shop owner in Dublin by threatening him with the Real IRA has been jailed for six years by the Special Criminal Court.

A Garda Chief Superintendent told the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today that she believed a Co Donegal man was an IRA member in 2010.

Rapist Larry Murphy is not believed to be staying in Cork currently, despite visiting the city at the weekend.

A total of five men who were arrested in connection with an investigation into organised crime in Dublin have now been released.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen tonight vowed no stone would be left unturned in the hunt for the killers of rugby player Shane Geoghegan.

The alleged leader of the Real IRA was lured into the eye of a garda surveillance unit by an FBI spy as officers followed his movements in the aftermath of the Omagh bombing, a court heard today.

Local streets will be sealed off and patrolled by armed gardaí as the suspects are ferried in convoy to the sitting at Kilmainham District Court.

Seven men were today charged in connection with an alleged €1m robbery attempt.

AN inquest into the death of two raiders shot dead by elite gardaí was dramatically halted yesterday after the Garda Ombudsman revealed it was investigating one of the killings.

Three men were being questioned by police in the Irish Republic today following the seizure of a large quantity of arms.

SENIOR garda are concerned there could be a spate of fake “tiger kidnappings” after they foiled a bid by a man to extort €50,000 from his father.

THE early arrest of nine suspects — including two people intercepted during their getaway — is highly unusual in tiger kidnapping cases, according to senior garda sources.

A man from the North today lost his appeal against his conviction for membership of an illegal organisation following a garda operation directed against the Continuity IRA.

WATERFORD needs more targeted, expert garda power and resources to tackle drugs and drug dealers, a local TD says. And he’s vowed to fight to have those resources deployed in the region.

An American man was tonight being questioned by gardai after customs officers at Dublin Airport found he had swallowed 80 pellets of cocaine valued at €56,000.

THREE armed criminals arrested near Newmarket on Fergus yesterday were on their way to carry out a major robbery in the Ennis area, gardaí believe.

GARDAÍ yesterday said it could take months before files are sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to people arrested as part of the money-laundering investigation.

SIX men were arrested in Limerick yesterday after more than 70 gardaí swept through the city in a dawn raid to crack down on its heroin trade.

A Northern Ireland man arrested after gardaí discovered a bomb making operation near the border last year has been convicted of membership of an illegal organisation by the Special Criminal Court today.

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.

Two men were arrested after gardaí discovered a bomb-making operation near the border in Co Louth last year, the Special Criminal Court was told today.

One of the four men involved in an attempted bank robbery in Abbyleix in 2001 in which a garda was accidentally killed has been jailed for eight years by Judge Michael White at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

A 30-year-old man was offered €10,000 to plant a bomb in Limerick city, a trial has heard.