IRELAND’S newest Lotto millionaires got a new road laid outside their house yesterday.

CORK’S northside — which has for decades been synonymous with unemployment and social depravation — is slowly undergoing a renaissance.

The leader of the Real IRA in Munster was jailed for five years and nine months, his second in command was jailed for four years and three other members of a Real IRA active service unit were given sentence ranging from three years to four years at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today.

Five men have been convicted by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin of membership of the Real IRA. The five men have been remanded in custody for sentencing at a later date.

The Special Criminal Court in Dublin has reserved judgment in the trial of five men accused of Real IRA membership.

The case against five men accused of Real IRA membership was "a strong case", a prosecution counsel told the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today.

A Limerick man accused of membership of an illegal organisation told the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today that he was "100% against violence".

A Corkman arrested on suspicion of membership of an illegal organisation had tattoos including the Irish flag and Oglaigh na hEireann on his arms, the Special Criminal Criminal Court heard today.

A Cork man accused of Real IRA membership denied to gardai that he was a member of the IRA or of anything connected to it, the Special Criminal Court heard today.

A man accused of membership of an unlawful organisation said he "was not a member of the IRA of any description or type" and that "the only organisation" he was a member of was Fine Gael, the Special Criminal Court heard today.

The Special Criminal Court will give its ruling next week on an application by defence challenging the validity of the arrest and subsequent detention of one of five men accused of membership of an unlawful organisation.

Two men accused of membership of an unlawful organisation said they were not and never would be members of the IRA, the Special Criminal Court heard today.

Simultaneous searches on the homes of three men accused of membership of an unlawful organisation uncovered items including a bodhran with a man in a balaclava carrying arms and badges inscribed with "sniper at work", the Special Criminal Court heard today.

A Garda Inspector told the Special Criminal Court today that he saw two men place a Real IRA wreath at a republican plot in a Cork cemetery on Easter Saturday in 2003.

Four men accused of membership of an illegal organisation were observed by undercover gardaí arriving at a Co Cork hotel, the Special Criminal Court heard today.

The trial has opened at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin of three Cork men and two Limerick men accused of membership of the Real IRA.

Four men arrested during a garda investigation into the activities of dissident republicans in the Munster area were charged with membership of an illegal organisation at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today.