Accused was not in INLA, says former paramilitary

A brother of former INLA leader Dominic McGlinchey told the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today that he had no reason to believe that a Strabane man was an INLA member.

Mr Sean Mc Glinchey, who himself served 18 years in prison for IRA activities, and who is now a senior Sinn Féin member, said that he did not believe Eddie Mc Garrigle was an INLA member.

Mr Mc Glinchey said that he would not have come to court to give evidence on Mc Garrigle’s behalf if he believed he was in the INLA.

He told the court that he had held senior positions in the IRA and Sinn Féin and his brother Dominic had been involved for years in the INLA who held him in high esteem.

"At no time did I see Eddie McGarrigle in any discussions with them," he added.

Dominic McGlinchey, who at one stage was the most wanted man in Ireland, was murdered in Drogheda in 1994. His wife Mary was shot dead in Dundalk in 1987 as she bathed the couple’s young sons, Declan and Dominic.

Mr Sean McGlinchey told the court today that he accepted that the INLA is an illegal organisation.

He said that he had met Mc Garrigle in 1995 as part of his work in the peace process.

Mr Mc Glinchey was giving defence evidence in the trial of three men who were arrested in February last year by gardaí investigating a plot to kidnap a Cork businessman.

Edward McGarrigle (aged 43), Melmont Gardens, Strabane, Co Tyrone, Neil Myles (aged 54), of no fixed abode, and John McCrossan (aged 47), Ballycoleman Estate, Strabane, Co Tyrone have pleaded not guilty to membership the INLA on February 22 last year.

It is the prosecution's case that the four men were involved in a plot to commit a crime at the home of a Cork businessman.

The trial continues next Tuesday.