Two men, including the grandson of former lord mayor of Dublin Christy Burke, have received sentences totalling 14 years at the Special Criminal Court after they were caught with four kilograms of the explosive TNT and a hand grenade in a densely populated area of Dublin city.
The non-jury court heard that the Army Bomb Disposal Unit was called to the scene and 40 premises had to be evacuated after the men were intercepted by gardaí.
Declan McDermott (30) was on Monday jailed for seven years while his co-accused Mairtin Manning (24), the grandson of Mr Burke, was also sentenced to seven years in prison.
The two Dublin men pleaded guilty last month before the three-judge court after they were caught with explosives inside a shoe box, which was found in the passenger foot-well of a taxi in the city.
The former lord mayor of Dublin Christy Burke was in court on Monday seated with the men’s families and supporters for the sentence hearing.
Presiding judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt said that one of the 10 400g blocks of TNT was sufficient to make an under-car bomb and therefore the quantity in question was “very considerable”.
McDermott and Manning had acted as “couriers” and played an important role, commented the judge. Furthermore, they were trusted by the organisers of these activities, he added.
McDermott and Manning, whose addresses are not before the non-jury court, pleaded guilty last month to knowingly possessing an explosive substance, to wit 10 400g blocks of TNT and the explosive head of an RGD33 hand-grenade at Spring Garden Street, Dublin 3, on June 2nd, 2017.
A third man, John O’Brien (56) of North Great Clarence Street, Dublin 1, also admitted to knowingly rendering assistance to an unlawful organisation, in the furtherance of an unlawful object, to wit, possession of an explosive substance under such circumstances as to give rise to a reasonable suspicion that it was not in its possession for a lawful object, at his home address on June 2nd, 2017.
O’Brien was on Monday jailed for one year and six months.
Passing sentence on Monday, Mr Justice Hunt said that due to the timely intervention by gardaí, no harm had resulted.
The judge said that “further processing” of the items would have been required and that “it cannot be said that any of the men would have had a further role in the processing”.
Having regard to the gravity of the offence, the judge said the maximum sentence for the explosives offence was 14 years in prison whereas the charge of rendering assistance to an unlawful organisation was punishable by up to eight years in jail.
Referring to McDermott and Manning, the headline sentence in their case was nine years and six months imprisonment, he said.
The main mitigating factors were the men’s guilty pleas and the fact neither of them had previous criminal convictions, said the judge. “Both men have positive employment and family history,” he commented, adding that there was no basis to differentiate between the two defendants.
Sentencing McDermott and Manning, the judge said the court would reduce the headline sentence of nine years and six months and impose a sentence of seven years imprisonment on each defendant, backdated to April this year when they went into custody.
Referring to O’Brien, Mr Justice Hunt said he had assisted by agreeing to store a “very significant” amount of explosive material. He had a difficult personal life as well as a number of illnesses, he said.
The headline sentence in O’Brien’s case was three years in prison. Further mitigating factors included his early guilty plea and the fact he was now in his 50s with no previous convictions, outlined the judge.
Following this, the court imposed a sentence of one year and six months on O’Brien and backdated it to April 23rd this year.
At last month’s sentence hearing, Det Supt Michael Gibbons , under cross-examination, agreed with Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC, for McDermott, that his client has been working as a taxi driver since 2014 and has a two-year-old child with his partner.
The witness also agreed with Michael O’Higgins SC, for Manning, that his client was the “most visible part” of the operation and was allocated this role because he was not someone well known to gardaí at the time.
The court heard Manning is a plumber and plays “a full and active role” as father to his six-month-old child.
Following this, the witness agreed with Kerida Naidoo SC for O’Brien that his client was at the “lower end” of this incident.
In his submissions, Mr Ó Lideadha told the court that there was particular value attached to his client’s guilty plea.
In mitigating factors, Mr O’Higgins said that Manning has had cause to think carefully about his own life as well as his own life goals as a result of recently becoming a father.
Mr O’Higgins informed the court that Manning’s grandfather is Christy Burke, who is a local councillor in the area and he [Burke] had previously been convicted of membership of the “Old IRA” and was closely aligned to the late politician Tony Gregory.
In his submissions, Mr O’Higgins said that his client was a highly regarded young man and is heavily involved in his community. His prospects of rehabilitation are very high, he outlined.
Counsel handed in to the court a number of testimonials, which, he said included a letter from independent Dublin City Councillor Mr Burke.