A Northern Ireland man accused of planning the Omagh bombing in which 29 people died is believed by gardai to be linked to Republican Sinn Fein and its paramilitary wing, the Continuity IRA, a court was told yesterday.
Another dissident republican group, the "Real IRA", claimed responsibility for the Omagh bomb on August 15th last year, which also injured hundreds.
Yesterday, the Special Criminal Court in Dublin refused bail to Mr Colm Murphy, the first person to be charged in connection with the bombing.
The court was told that Mr Murphy made admissions to gardai over three days about his part in the Omagh bomb plot.
Mr Murphy (46), a building contractor and publican, is a native of Co Armagh, with an address at Jordan's Corner, Ravensdale, Co Louth. He was charged last month with conspiring in Dundalk with another person not before the court to cause an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property in the State or elsewhere between August 13th and August 16th last year.
He is also charged with membership of an unlawful organisation on August 14th.
Opposing bail yesterday, Supt Thomas Flannery, Carrickmacross, said the conspiracy charge related to the Omagh bombing on August 15th, when 29 people were killed and some 400 injured.
He said the charge carried a maximum of 20 years' imprisonment on conviction. When asked by Mr Tom O'Connell, for the State, what faction of the IRA gardai believed Mr Murphy belonged to, the superintendent replied: "Republican Sinn Fein and its associated organisation, the Continuity Army Council."
He said the membership charge carried a maximum of seven years' imprisonment on conviction.
Supt Flannery said Mr Murphy made admissions over a three-day period while in Garda custody.
He said Mr Murphy was jailed for two years for firearms offences in June 1972. The charges arose from an incident in Dundalk on March 6th that year when Mr Murphy was questioned about an assault and gardai found a loaded revolver in his car.
He escaped from the Curragh Military Prison in October 1972, and was recaptured in May 1973. He was jailed for three years by the Special Criminal Court in June 1976 for firearms offences, and one year for IRA membership.
Supt Flannery said Mr Murphy was convicted on July 15th, 1983 in the US for attempting to buy M60 machine-guns for the INLA and was jailed for five years. He was released in December 1985, and returned to Ireland.
The superintendent said Mr Murphy was a building contractor and native of Belleeks, Co Armagh. He also owned 30 acres at Dublin Road, Drogheda. He did not believe Mr Murphy would turn up for trial if granted bail because of the seriousness of the charges and the likely sentence if convicted.
Cross-examined by Mr Murphy's counsel, Mr Michael O'Higgins, he said: "Given the nature of the atrocity and the implication in the event of conviction my opinion would be that this is not an ordinary type of case."
Mr Murphy's wife, Ms Anne Murphy, said her husband employed 28 people directly in his building business and she was the licensee of the Emerald Bar in Dundalk.
The court also heard that Mr Murphy had worked on the International Financial Services Centre, Dublin City University and Dublin supermarkets and apartments.
Mr Justice Morris, presiding, said the court agreed with Supt Flannery's description of the offence facing Mr Murphy as "an atrocity". It also accepted that Mr Murphy had escaped from custody in 1972 and this was a pointer towards his attitude about attending trial.
Bail was refused and Mr Murphy was remanded in custody until April 27th.