Prosecution closes case in C-IRA trial

The prosecution today closed its case in Special Criminal Court on the 34th day of the trial of seven men suspected of membership of the Continuity IRA.

The seven were arrested when a large party of gardaí raided a house in the Shanabooly Road area of Limerick in December 2001 where the suspected meeting was taking place.

In evidence today Detective Garda Senan O'Sullivan, Henry Street Garda Station, told the court that in June 2001, he observed one of the accused, Joseph 'Tiny' Lynch, entering a funeral home where the late Mary Waters was laying.

The court has heard that her son, Wayne Waters, was named on a handwritten note seized by gardaí at the meeting in Shanabooly Road.

Wayne Waters and two other names appeared on the note alongside references to firearms and shooting.

Mr Brendan Nix SC for Joseph Lynch, put it to Detective Garda O'Sullivan that his client had co-operated with gardaí and had answered questions while in custody.

"Not all truthfully" the detective garda replied. When counsel pressed him as to which answers he was referring, he said: "that he wasn't a member of the IRA".

Mr Nix suggested that Detective Garda O'Sullivan was seeking to usurp the statutory function of a chief superintendent in giving opinion evidence.

Counsel added that he did not agree with the detective garda that Mr Lynch had not responded truthfully.

The seven accused have pleaded not guilty to a charge that on December 17, 2001, within the State, they were members of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise the IRA, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann.

They are Des Long, aged 62, Vice President of Republican Sinn Fein, of Shannon Banks, Limerick, Patrick Kenneally, aged 58, of Crusheen, Co Clare, Patrick O' Shea, aged 54, of Sir Harry's Mall, Limerick, Gerard "Ger" Brommell, aged 43, of Rostura Crescent, Woodview Park, Limerick, Robert McNamara, aged 59, of St Michael's Avenue, Tipperary, Joseph ''Tiny'' Lynch, aged 61, of Beechgrove Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston, Limerick and Christopher Dunne, aged 28, of Donnellan Buildings, Rosbrien, Limerick.