TWO men were jailed by Limerick Circuit Court yesterday for a total of 17 years for their part in battering a man to death.

Three men in their twenties are under arrest in Limerick as part of an investigation into the murder of a 25 year old man.

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.

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.

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 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.