Colm Murphy, described by a judge as a "service provider" for those who planned the Omagh bombing, has secured free legal aid to bring an appeal against his conviction on a charge of conspiring to cause explosions.
The Court of Criminal Appeal was told yesterday that the DPP was not opposing Murphy's application for legal aid. The three-judge court said it would "reluctantly" grant legal aid.
Murphy (51) was the first person to be convicted in connection with the "Real IRA" bombing. Some 29 people died in the atrocity and 300 were injured.
Yesterday, Mr Michael O'Higgins SC, for Murphy, said his client had had a reasonably rosy financial picture but that had been wiped out overnight.
The Special Criminal Court had refused him free legal aid after the court took the view that he had put monies into a trust fund. Since then he had been in jail and was separated from his wife.
About €340,000 had been put in a trust fund for his children and the family home went to his wife.
In reply to Mr Justice O'Neill, Mr O'Higgins said the aims of the trust were that there would be a division of capital and interest to each child should they reach 21 years.
Mr Justice Fennelly asked if Mr O'Higgins was saying that Murphy was devoid of funds. Mr O'Higgins said that, on the material available to him, that appeared to be the position.
The fees paid to his lawyers in the Special Criminal Court did not cover the duration of the trial but lawyers had continued to act when monies were not available.
Mr Justice Fennelly said the court had been put in a dilemma but it had to accept that Murphy did not have assets and the court had reluctantly decided he should be granted legal aid.