Delays in bail application see ex-IRA leader back behind bars
Family members and supporters turned out to support former Workers’ Party president Sean Garland during the brief hearing at Dublin’s High Court.
US authorities have sought the extradition of the 74-year-old amid claims that he was linked with the forgery of almost perfect US dollars nearly two decades ago. It is also alleged the counterfeiting involved the North Korean government.
Garland’s solicitor Colm MacGeehan told the court he was not ready to make a bail application.
“I will be making that application as soon as we are in a position to do so,” he said. “I will give the required notice.”
Justice Michael Peart remanded the suspect for a week.
Garland, who underwent surgery and chemotherapy for bowel cancer late last year, also suffers from diabetes.
He was hugged by his wife Mary and daughter Caoimhe before he was led away by prison officers.
A former Official IRA leader in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Garland was part of a group within the movement which tried to lead it away from violence and make it more political. He was a key figure in securing the official IRA ceasefire in May 1972.
Garland was previously arrested by the Police Service of Northern Ireland on foot of an extradition warrant by the US authorities in October 2005 at the Workers Party annual conference in Belfast.
He was released on bail but failed to appear for his court hearing.
The pensioner, of Beldonstown, Brownstown, Navan, Co Meath, was again arrested outside his party offices in Dublin last Friday.
Outside the court, Mick Finnegan, of the Workers Party, said that Garland was responsible for saving thousands of lives in Northern Ireland by implementing the ceasefire. “He and his legal representatives have always said he was available for questioning so there was no reason to arrest him the way they did,” he added.
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