Man pleads guilty to manufacturing explosives and having firearms at his Kerry home

Ivan Gilder, originally from Scotland, entered guilty pleas to seven charges under the Offences Against the State and the Criminal Justice Acts

Ivan Gilder also admitted to possessing a firearm, a 12-gauge Lamber make shotgun, and 367 rounds of .22 caliber ammunition and 86 shotgun cartridges. Picture: Andy Gibson

A 62-year-old man has pleaded guilty at the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee to manufacturing explosives and having firearms and ammunition at his home near Sneem, Co Kerry.

Ivan Gilder of Gearha North, Blackwater, Sneem, originally from Scotland, entered guilty pleas to seven charges under the Offences Against the State and the Criminal Justice Acts.

Five of the seven offences he admitted to at Gearha North on March 27, 2021, are under Section 4 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1883 as amended by Section 15 (4) of the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act 1998.

They include making an explosive substance — a white crystalline powder containing Erithritol Tetranitrate (ETN) — "under such circumstances as to give rise to the reasonable suspicion that he did not make it for a lawful object".

Gilder also pleaded guilty to having in his possession an explosive substance namely black crystalline powder known as ‘black powder’. He has also admitted to having in his possession a pipe bomb. 

He further pleaded guilty to having in his possession an explosive substance, namely a radio controlled multi-channel pyrotechnic initiator and control transmitter which he had made or manufactured, and possessing ‘an improvised electric match’.

Gilder also admitted to possessing a firearm, a 12-gauge Lamber make shotgun, and 367 rounds of .22 caliber ammunition and 86 shotgun cartridges.

A second man, Thomas Albrighton, age 33, of Ardeen, Sneem, pleaded guilty last week at Tralee Circuit Court to possession of ammunition at Ardeen, Sneem, on March 27, 2021.

Tom Rice, prosecuting, said both accused had now pleaded guilty to possession of firearms and the prosecution now has to seek direction from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) as to the scale of the offences.

Judge Sinéad Behan adjourned the matter to the call over list in Tralee on January 16, 2024. Legal aid granted to both men has been extended.