Case relying on 'lowest form of evidence' in IRA membership trial

Closing speeches have been heard in the Special Criminal Court trial of three Northern Ireland men charged with membership of the IRA.

Mr Diarmaid McGuinness SC, counsel for accused man Gerard McGarrigle (aged 46), told the court that the evidence against the three men was in complete contrast to members of the IRA having been caught “in flagrante” on their way back from a bank robbery or engaging in a “shoot-out” with gardaí.

He said that a search of the car in which the men were travelling revealed none of the paraphernalia usually associated with an IRA active service unit, such as a scanners tuned to police frequencies and balaclavas for the purposes of disguise.

Mr McGuinness said that the court was left to rely upon the “lowest form of evidence” that can be produced: a garda belief that they had stopped, arrested and detained an IRA active service unit at a roadside checkpoint.

Ms Una Ni Raifeartaigh SC, for the State, told the court that the prosecution case was not solely reliant on belief evidence proffered by a garda Chief Superintendant, but instead consisted of different “strands” of evidence which weighed against the accused men.

She said that items found in the Mercedes C220 car used by the men, including an imitation firearm, latex gloves and cable ties, assisted in proving their membership of an unlawful organisation.

Ms Una Ni Raifeartaigh said that this evidence, taken in conjunction with the men’s failure to answer material questions in interview and witness evidence contradicting their claims of having travelled to Donegal to seek work at a nightclub, cumulatively demonstrated the prosecution had proven its case against each man beyond a reasonable doubt.

McGarrigle of Mount Carmel Heights, Strabane, Co Tyrone and his co-accused Desmond Donnelly (aged 58) of Drumall, Lisnarick, Co Fermanagh, and Jim Murphy (aged 61) of Floraville, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, have each denied membership of an illegal organisation styling itself on the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the IRA.

The court heard that the three men were arrested at a garda checkpoint outside Letterkenny 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.

The trial is expected to conclude tomorrow in front of the three-judge court, with Mr Justice Paul Butler presiding.