Eight Dublin men have appeared before an Easter Sunday sitting of the Special Criminal Court charged with membership of the IRA.
The men were arrested on Friday after a search of a commercial premises in Clondalkin, as part of an ongoing Garda investigation into the activities of dissident republicans.
Kevin Braney (38), Des Christie (49), Eamon McNamee (32), John Brock (40), Darren Murphy (42), Declan Phelan (31), William Jackson (53) and Hubert Duffy (45) were all charged with membership of an unlawful organisation within the State, namely Óglaigh na hÉireann, otherwise the Irish Republican Army, otherwise the IRA on March 29th last.
The non-jury court heard that Mr Murphy, of Rory O’Connor House in Dublin 1 and Mr Brock, of Glenview Park, Tallaght were arrested by detectives at Rossmore Avenue in Ballyfermot shortly after noon, while Mr Duffy, of George’s Place in Dublin 1 and Mr McNamee, of Larkfield Square, Lucan were arrested on Orchard Road in Clondalkin at about the same time.
Mr Phelan, of Lanndale Lawns, Tallaght, was also arrested shortly after noon at Main Street in Lucan, while Mr Jackson, of Dooncourt, Poppintree was arrested at Newlands Road in Ronanstown at the same time.
Det Sgt Pádraig Boyce told State solicitor Liam Mulholland he arrested Mr Braney, of Glenshane Crescent, Tallaght at Londonbridge Road in Dublin 4 at 12:12pm, while Det Gda Gordon Wolfe said he arrested Mr Christie, of Liam Mellows Road, Finglas at 12:09pm at Irishtown Garda station.
No reply to charges
The court heard that none of the eight men made any reply when the charges were put to them and that the direction to charge the accused men was received by detectives at 11:49 yesterday morning.
Det Gda Darren Martin agreed with counsel for Darren Murphy, Mr Michael Bowman, that he noticed Mr Murphy had injuries to his face, including a laceration above the right eye, and that a doctor attended to the accused man during his detention.
Det Gda Martin told Mr Bowman that when he asked Mr Murphy when he had sustained the injuries, the accused man told him they had occurred during his arrest.
None of the men applied for bail yesterday, however lawyers representing all parties indicated that applications for bail and legal aid would be addressed at the next hearing of the case.
Presiding judge Mr Justice Paul Butler, said the court would grant a disclosure order, under section 56 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007, for a copy of any recording of the questioning of the accused men during their detention.
He said the court would also order that a transcript be provided for all parties and would treat yesterday evening’s sitting as a trial date in respect of all men.
Mr Justice Butler, sitting with Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan and Judge William Hamill, remanded the eight in custody with liberty to apply for bail to appear in front of the non-jury court on Friday, April 5th.