Accused men did not approach door staff for work, court hears

Door staff at a Letterkenny nightclub received no approach for work from any of three men from the North accused of membership of the IRA in the hours before their arrest, the Special Criminal Court has heard.

Desmond Donnelly (aged 58) of Drumall, Lisnarick, Co Fermanagh, Gerard McGarrigle (aged 46) of Mount Carmel Heights, Strabane, Co Tyrone and Jim Murphy (aged 61) of Floraville, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh have pleaded not guilty to membership of an illegal organisation styling itself on the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hÉireann, otherwise the IRA.

The court heard that the three men were arrested after they approached a garda checkpoint outside Letterkenny in a navy-coloured Mercedes C220 car in the early hours of February 22 last.

The accused men told gardaí that they had driven to Letterkenny in the hope of securing security work at the Golden Grill nightclub on Port Road.

Bouncer Seamus McDevitt told Ms Una Ni Raifeartaigh SC, for the State, that he noticed a dark coloured Mercedes C220 car drive past the front door of the Golden Grill nightclub at approximately half eleven on the night of February 21.

Mr McDevitt, who was working at the main entrance with colleague Denise McElhanney, told the court that none of the occupants of the car got out of the vehicle or approached him seeking work.

The proprietor of the nightclub, Mr Eoin Tinney, told Ms Ni Raifeartaigh that none of his security team alerted him to any prospective job applicants on the night in question.

However, Mr Tinney told counsel for McGarrigle, Mr Diarmuid McGuinness SC, that he was not aware that McGarrigle’s telephone number was listed in the “door work” book maintained by the head of security for the nightclub.

The trial continues in front of the three-judge court, with Mr Justice Paul Butler presiding.