Four in court on IRA charges

FOUR men were last night charged with membership of the IRA at a special sitting of the Special Criminal Court in Dublin as part of a renewed Garda crackdown on paramilitary activity in Donegal.

The St Patrick’s weekend operation into alleged activities of dissident republicans in Co Donegal saw four BBC journalists being held in custody.

The BBC said those arrested, who were held for 19 hours, worked for current affairs and were on an investigation with full editorial authority under BBC guidelines when gardaí took them in.