Court convicts man of IRA membership

A Northern Ireland man arrested after gardaí discovered a bomb making operation near the border last year has been convicted of membership of an illegal organisation by the Special Criminal Court today.

The court convicted Eamonn Matthews (aged 25), of Dublin Road, Killeen, Newry, Co Down of membership of an illegal organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hÉireann, otherwise the IRA on June 13 last year.

The court cleared Paul Kelly (aged 40), of Cedarwood Park, Dundalk, Co Louth of the charge and he was discharged by the court and walked free.

During a 12-day trial the court was told that the two men were arrested after a major garda operation in north Co Louth against dissident republicans, involving the Emergency Response Unit and the National Surveillance Unit.

The court heard that gardaí found two men, not the two accused, making home made explosives at a farm shed at Thornfield in Co Louth. They also found traces of home made explosives at another farm several miles away at Tallanstown where they found a grinder with traces of explosives.

Matthews was seen the previous day driving a jeep and going to a local firm where he rented a cement mixer.

Chief Superintendent Michael Finnegan , who is in charge of the Louth/Meath division, told the court that he believed that Kelly and Matthews were members of an unlawful organisation on June 13, 2003.

Mr Justice Diarmuid O'Donovan, presiding, said that while the court unreservedly accepted the Chief Superintendent's belief evidence, there should be evidence which supported or corroborated his belief before the court could convict either of them.

The judge said that there was no other evidence which corroborated or supported Chief Superintendent Finnegan’s evidence relating to Kelly and he was entitled to the benefit of the doubt.

Mr Justice O’ Donovan said that in Matthews' case the Chief Superintendent’s belief was supported and corroborated by Matthews' failure to answer material questions when questioned by the gardaí, his association with the cement mixer which had been used to manufacture the explosive substance at Thornfield and his association with established IRA members and persons convicted of subversive crime.

The court remanded Matthews in custody for sentencing tomorrow.