Louth man acquitted of IRA membership after judges ruling

A Louth man has been acquitted of IRA membership after the Special Criminal Court found it could not rely on the belief evidence of a Garda Assistant Commissioner as being independent from the investigation.

Michael Connolly (aged 47) of Grange Drive in Dundalk, County Louth, had pleaded not guilty to membership of an unlawful organisation, styling itself Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the Irish Republican Army, otherwise the IRA on December 16, 2014.