A Dublin man has been ordered to forfeit €20,000 in bail after the man whom gardaí believe is a leader of the Real IRA in the greater Dublin region breached his bail conditions.
The Special Criminal Court heard yesterday that John Connor, Ashlawn Park, Ballybrack, Co Dublin, provided an independent surety of €40,000 for Joseph Clarke, who is now back in custody after breaching his bail.
Mr Clarke was remanded in custody in March after the court heard that he had breached his bail conditions by being seen twice in the company of men convicted of subversive offences.
Mr Clarke (36), Forestwood Close, Santry Avenue, Dublin, was charged in January with membership of the IRA on January 9th.
During a bail hearing, Det Supt Diarmuid O'Sullivan told the court that he believed Mr Clarke was a leader of the Real IRA in the greater Dublin region.
The court granted Mr Clarke bail in January on his own bond of €1,000 and an independent surety of €40,000 and on conditions that included no contact with any person convicted or charged with subversive offences.
Mr Connor, a father of four, told the Special Criminal Court yesterday that he provided bail for Mr Clarke because he had been asked by his fiancée's father to do so.
He said he had been assured by both Mr Clarke and by Mr Clarke's wife that he would keep his bail conditions and he said he had put his trust in Mr Clarke.
He said that the €40,000 was part of money left to him by his father and he was planning to use it to secure his family's future.
Mr Justice Paul Butler, presiding, said that an order to forfeit the €40,000 surety followed from the breach of his bail conditions by Mr Clarke.
But the judge said that the Bail Act 1997 gave the court some discretion to vary that order. He said it would appear that because of diligent detective work, Mr Clarke was found to have breached his bail and was now back in custody.
The judge said that Mr Connor was gullible in relation to Mr Clarke and the court was satisfied that he was fully aware of the consequences of Mr Clarke breaching his bail.
However Mr Justice Butler said that no harm appeared to have been done because of diligent police work and this allowed the court to vary the order and to reduce the amount of bail forfeited to €20,000.