Three jailed over Real IRA weapons awarded €2,500 each in damages for false imprisonment

Judge rules the men were not entitled to substantial damages on grounds including that the sentences they had originally received for terrorist offences from an English court had never been invalidated

Fintan O'Farrell, Declan Rafferty, and Michael McDonald.

The High Court has awarded €2,500 in damages to each of three men jailed for trying to acquire weapons for the Real IRA for the period of their incarceration found by the Irish courts to have been unlawful.

Mr Justice Cian Ferriter held that Fintan O'Farrell, Declan Rafferty, and Michael McDonald, all from Co Louth, were entitled to succeed in their claim for false imprisonment and to the damages award.