A SUM of almost €6 million, believed to be the property of the IRA and frozen in a bank account for some 20 years, is to be handed over to the State, the High Court directed yesterday.
Mr Justice Kevin Feeney made an order for handover of the monies to the Minister for Justice after being told all claims to them had been dropped.
The case arose after an account at a bank in Navan, Co Meath, containing some £1.75 million, was frozen in 1985 under the provisions of the Offences Against the State Act on grounds that the then Fine Gael/Labour coalition government, led by taoiseach Garret FitzGerald, believed the money was the property of an unlawful organisation.
Several months later, two individuals - Alan Clancy and Dave McCartney, with addresses in the United States and Mexico - brought court proceedings aimed at securing the seized money. Both men are now deceased, the High Court was told yesterday.
In 1988 the High Court dismissed the men's claim and they appealed to the Supreme Court. However, the matter was never progressed and the money remained frozen by court orders.
Yesterday Mr Justice Feeney was told that all claims to the money had been dropped. The sum frozen, plus interest accumulated since the mid-1980s, stands at some €5.9 million.
Shane Murphy SC, with Paul Anthony McDermott, for the State, said the estate of the late Mr Clancy, who had an address in Co Louth as well as the US, was making no claim for the money in the frozen account. No claim had been made by the estate of the late Mr McCartney, he added.
Counsel also formally applied to the court to have the men's action dismissed on the grounds of "inordinate and inexcusable delay" of some 20 years in advancing it.
Mr Justice Feeney said he was satisfied to make an order directing that the money be paid to the Minister for Justice "for the benefit of central funds".
The judge said it would be an "undeniable injustice to allow a case of this vintage to proceed" in light of the inexcusable and inordinate delay in bringing the claim, plus an absence of any explanation as to why there was such a delay.