Two men are charged with gunand IRA membership offences

TWO men appeared at a special sitting of the Special Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday on charges arising out of a Garda investigation into the activities of dissident republicans.

Peter Butterly, 33, of Cortown, Togher, Dunleer, Co Louth, was charged with membership of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hÉireann on October 8.

Nicholas Kendall, 20, of Row St, Wexford, was charged with the unlawful possession of a 9mm Smith and Wesson semi-automatic pistol and nine rounds of ammunition at Cortown, Togher, Dunleer, Co Louth on Friday.

He was also charged with the unlawful possession of a component part for a timing power unit used in an improvised explosive device.

Detective Garda Dominic Berry, Special Detective Unit, gave evidence of arresting Butterly at Santry Garda station yesterday. He said that when cautioned, Butterly replied: “No comment.’’

Detective Garda John Feeney, SDU, gave evidence of arresting Kendall who also replied: “No comment.” The men were remamnded in custody until tomorrow.

The charges follow the weekend arrests of 10 people as part of a Garda investigation into the activities of a faction of the so-called Real IRA. Last night seven remained in custody after one was released without charge.

Six men aged between 19 and 71 years were arrested in Co Wexford on Friday. They were detained at Garda stations in Enniscorthy, New, Ross, Wexford and Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act 1939.

Another man, aged 27, was arrested in Waterford and was detained at the Garda station in Waterford city. On Saturday a woman in her 20s was also arrested as part of the operation. A house was sealed off in Keelogue, Barntown, Co Wexford and a number of items which gardaí believe to be the component parts of explosive devices were recovered.

Last week British authorities raised the threat level of a dissident republican attack from moderate to substantial, meaning they believe such an event is a “strong possibility”. It also comes as new research based on a survey of Northern Irish attitudes found that 14% of nationalists expressed sympathy for the reasons behind dissident violence.