Ten prisoners transferred to Irish prisons after receiving lengthy sentences in the UK have had to be freed because of a loophole in the law.

Three Irishmen appeared in court in London today in connection with an alleged plot to smuggle weapons from Slovakia for the Real IRA.

Three men accused of IRA membership and arms offences have appeared in court in London for a brief pre-trial hearing.

The names of two of the three men who were arrested in Slovakia in connection