A man accused of membership of the Real IRA told detectives the British were behind the Omagh bombing, not the IRA, a court heard today.

A Belfast solicitor claimed he could not give his client advice over his arrest for suspected membership of the IRA because he got “absolutely no disclosure of information” from gardaí at Monaghan, the Special Criminal Court heard today.

A garda witness in the trial of three Armagh men accused of memberhip of the IRA has told the Special Criminal Court he was unable to contact the accused’s solicitor on the night of the arrest.

The Special Criminal Court today refused to discharge itself from trying the case of three Armagh men accused of membership of a dissident republican organisation.

A Garda Chief Superintendent involved in the investigation of three Armagh men accused of membership of the Real IRA had suspected one man of membership for 20 years, the Special Criminal Court heard today.

Four Northern Ireland men arrested in Co Monaghan earlier this month were members of a Real IRA active service unit preparing to commit serious crime, the Special Criminal Court heard today.

Four men who were arrested in Co Monaghan last Friday were charged at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today with membership of an illegal organisation.