A Cork man was involved in a money laundering operation involving the proceeds of the 2004 Northern Bank robbery on behalf of the IRA, the Special Criminal Court in Dublin was told today.

A Northern Bank employee could identify her handwriting on almost 300 sterling notes recovered by Cork gardaí during searches in the county in early 2005, the Special Criminal Court heard today.

DNA obtained from a money bag seized by gardaí is “a thousand million times” more likely to have come from a Cork man accused of IRA membership than an unknown source, the Special Criminal Court heard today.