The Special Criminal Court ruled today that four men whose convictions for Real IRA membership were quashed last year could not be charged with the same offences again.

THE Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA) has quashed the convictions of five Munster men jailed three years after they were found guilty of membership of the Real IRA.

A man accused of murdering his Navy comrade told gardaí he broke a brush handle on the deceased's head in a row on board the Navy flagship, the LE Eithne.