The Court of Criminal Appeal will give its judgment today on the appeal by convicted Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt against his conviction for directing terrorism.
McKevitt (54), of Beech Park, Blackrock, Co Louth, was jailed for 20 years by the non-jury Special Criminal Court in August 2003 after he was convicted of directing the activities of a terrorist organisation between August 29th, 1999, and October 23rd, 2000.
He was the first person to be convicted in the State for the offence, which was introduced after the Real IRA bomb attack in Omagh in 1998 in which 29 people died.
McKevitt also received a six-year concurrent prison sentence for membership of an illegal organisation that the court said was the Real IRA.
The four-day appeal last month centred on issues related to the reliability of the chief prosecution witness in the trial, FBI agent David Rupert, who had infiltrated the Real IRA and attended Real IRA army council meetings at which, he said, McKevitt was present.
Senior counsel Michael O'Higgins, for McKevitt, argued that Rupert was "a deeply avaricious man" who had been paid $1.4 million by the FBI and £400,000 by the British Security Service.
He also said Rupert was a lifelong criminal who had been involved in smuggling drugs, contraband, people and explosives.
Mr O'Higgins argued there was no full and proper disclosure of all material relating to Rupert and that the Special Criminal Court had erred in law by not adequately assessing Rupert's credibility as a prosecution witness, despite his history of involvement in criminality.
Opposing the appeal, senior counsel George Birmingham, for the State, said Rupert had performed the tasks he had agreed to do with "remarkable skill, resourcefulness and courage", which had "served all the people of this State".
Mr Birmingham said the decision to bring McKevitt to trial was unique in that it involved three states, with three law enforcement agencies, each with a commitment to the rule of law. He said the DPP had gone to elaborate lengths to ensure McKevitt was given a fair trial.