Man admits taking photos of specialist Garda HQ

A man charged in connection with an alleged surveillance operation on the Dublin headquarters of a number of specialist Garda units has admitted taking photos of the complex after renting a room in an overlooking hotel.

Corey Mulhall, aged 41, was arrested in Sept 2012 after detectives observed suspicious activity at a hotel close to Harcourt Square.

The Harcourt Square building is home to the Special Detective Unit, whose tasks include monitoring the activities of dissident republicans.

Mr Mulhall, of Daletree Court, Ballycullen, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to membership of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Óglaigh na hÉireann, otherwise the IRA, on Sept 26, 2012.

Deirdre Murphy, for Mr Mulhall, yesterday told the non-jury court he had instructed her to make a number of formal admissions.

She said Mr Mulhall wished to admit that on Sept 26, 2012, he went to the Harcourt Hotel in the company of a man who had offered him money on behalf of another unnamed man, who was in dispute with gardaí, to take photos of a garda who drove a specified vehicle.

The trial continues.