Kinsealy shooting, Real IRA Dublin, Colin Duffy, The IRA Lurgan

Kinsealy shooting, Real IRA Dublin, Colin Duffy, The IRA Lurgan

Kinsealy shooting linked to dissident republican feud, Gardaí appeal for witnesses to incident at Russell Terrace.

A man is recovering in hospital after being shot and wounded in what gardaí believe is an internal feud within the dissident republican movement.

The injured man was a close associate of Alan Ryan, the leader of the Real IRA in Dublin who was shot dead last September near his home on Donaghmede, north Dublin.

Gardaí believe many of Ryan’s former associates are now being targeted after the leadership of the dissident republican movement in the north questioned their commitment to terrorism ahead of for-profit criminal activity.

The latest victim of that purge was wounded at around 11pm on Saturday during a gun attack at a house at Russell Terrace, Kettles Lane, Kinsealy, north Dublin. The victim, a 27-year-old from Tallaght in west Dublin, was visiting is girlfriend when attacked.

His injuries are not life threatening and he was taken to Beaumont Hospital, where he was still undergoing medical treatment last night.

The injured man had just been released from prison. He was convicted of possession of a firearm in an usual incident where he and another man claimed they were about to save a woman from her ex partner.

They were caught in north Dublin in 2009 - with a firearm and were wearing balaclavas and rubber gloves - before they had a chance to attack the man.

In the period since the murder of Alan Ryan a new alliance of dissident organisations called the New IRA has emerged and has attacked a number of Real IRA members in the Republic, murdering one man and knee capping and wounding others.

The murdered man was Peter Butterly (35) from Dunleer, Co Louth. A suspected terrorist, he was shot dead in an ambush outside the Huntsman Inn, Gormanstown, Co Meath, in March.

South Armagh Raids by PSNI

Meanwhile raids in South Armagh continued as the PSNI target The Real IRA in that area.

Larry Keane death, dissident republican, an garda siochana

Larry Keane death: A murder investigation has been launched after a 56-year-old man died in hospital following an attack last night in Athy, Co Kildare.

Larry Keane was attacked and seriously injured in a laneway in Athy at around midnight.

Gardaí were called to the scene and performed CPR before Mr Keane was taken to Naas General hospital.

The 56-year-old died there at 5am this morning.

The area between the Greenhills estate and St John’s Lane has been sealed off for a technical examination.

A garda search team began a search of the area this afternoon.

Inspector John Ferris from the Garda Press office appealed for information. He asked anyone who was in the vicinity of the laneway last night to contact Athy Garda station on 056-8634210.

seamus mckenna funeral, dissident republican, omagh bomb

Seamus McKenna, Continuity IRA, accident, dissident republicans, omagh bomb, sean mckenna, real ira

New: Sean McKenna, Autobiography: Voice from the Grave

Seamus McKenna Funeral

17/7/2013: Thousands of Irish Republicans are gathering this morning for the funeral of Vol. Seamus McKenna, republicans from across Ireland have gathered in south Armagh and north Louth, to say farewell to a dedicated and staunch republican. The funeral has begun at the home of McKenna’s son Sean in the Armagh village of Silverbridge. The funeral procession will travel across the border to St Mary’s Church, Ravensdale for mass at 11am, with burial afterwards in the church cemetery.

Teams of uniformed and armed gardaí set up checkpoints on approach roads around 1km around Ravensdale and searched cars making their way to the funeral at St Mary’s Church. Gardaí also questioned mourners, took personal details and requested ID from many of those attending. The Garda Dog Unit is also at the scene and reinforcements from the Public Order Unit in Leinster Area are on standby. A Garda Helicopter is monitoring the funeral.

16/7/2013: Gardai are concerned that attempts will be made by dissident republican groups to stage a paramilitary display at Seamus’s funeral in Ravensdale, Dundalk, tomorrow. His remains were removed last night to his son's home from a funeral home in his native Silverbridge, Co Armagh. Seamus McKenna was born in Monaghan, and lived in Clara in North Monaghan until he was a teenager. The family then moved to O’Neill Avenue in Newry and later Seamus moved to Silverbridge and then Dundalk.

Seamus McKenna RIP 13/7/2013 (Sad news received after the article below was written)

Seamus McKenna, Óglaigh na hÉireann, has been seriously injured after falling from a school roof while working in County Louth. McKenna has been a life-long republican and member of the IRA, McKenna never faltered in his dedication to the Irish Republican Army and that dedication was within the ranks of the Continuity IRA since 1986, although Seamus would have assisted anyone opposed to the British occupation. Seamus is, at the time of writing, on a life support machine.

In 2003 Seamus was found in possession of 1,200Lb bomb near Dundalk and sentenced to six years in Portlaoise Prison, while the DPP appealed the sentence handed down, the Court of Criminal Appeal found that the sentence was appropriate due to McKenna’s previous lack of convictions.

Seamus McKenna's Father, Sean McKenna Snr was interned and tortured in 1970 and, both Sean and other men who had been interned and tortured would have their inhumane treatment declared as such by the European Commission (Now The European Court of Human Rights).

Seamus McKenna was named in a civil action taken by the families of victims of the Omagh bomb, however, the case against Seamus McKenna was dismissed and no evidence was adduced to secure either civil or criminal conviction. McKenna was named as allegedly one of the Real IRA team which transported the Omagh bomb into the County Tyrone town in August 1998. Twenty nine people, including the mother of unborn twins, were killed in the blast while hundreds more were badly injured.

A couple of weeks back when life-long republican Ruairi O Bradaigh was buried, Seamus reflected on the time that Sean McKenna Snr had been buried in Clara in North Monaghan, and Ruairi had given the oration. On that day Sean Jnr (who was on the run) had been preparing to fire a volley of shots over his Father’s coffin with his Father’s personal colt 45 revolver when he was attacked by agents of the state, the gun that Sean was carrying, went off and his uncle Patsy McKenna was shot in the leg by accident. 

Tragic Death of Sean McKenna

December, 2008

In December 2008 IRA Volunteer Sean McKenna died suddenly and goes now to rest after a life of dedication to the cause of Irish Freedom. Sean McKenna served many long hard years in Long Kesh and other British hell holes. When released from prison Sean McKenna was frail, having been on hunger strike and then being subjected to institutional torture in Long Kesh. 

Sean sought work with his cousin Vincent McKenna in Monaghan Mushrooms, and was happy working long hard hours to pay his way in the world. Sean later moved to his loved County Kerry, a county he truly enjoyed.

Sean McKenna died in 2008 at his home in Dundalk. Sean never fully recovered from his ordeal on the first H-Block hunger strike in 1980 which lasted for fifty three days. Sean was buried on Monday, 22nd December 2008, in Calvary cemetery, Ravensdale, County Louth, after Requiem Mass in nearby St Mary’s Church.

Republicans from across Ireland, including many former prisoners and surviving hunger strikers, attended the funeral.

Vol. Sean McKenna had been illegally arrested, along with his Father, and hundreds of others, by the British army on 9^th August, 1970. His father was one of the ‘hooded men’ and died whilst in his early forties as a result of being tortured. Father and son were both interned in Long Kesh. After his release Sean returned to active service but lived in County Louth at Edentubber.

On 12th March 1976 members of an SAS undercover team crossed the border and abducted Sean, again illegally, without any protest from the Dublin government at the breach of its sovereignty. Sean was sentenced in a Diplock Court and was on the blanket for several years prior to the hunger strike.

It was later alleged that the SAS who had kidnapped Sean McKenna was led by the infamous Captain Niarac, who was later executed by the IRA and his body never recovered. However, Sean McKenna was not able to confirm that Niarac was involved in his illegal kidnapping.

Below: Extract from soon to be published Autobiography of Vincent McKenna:

"The British Army also fell foul of the Catholic population when they were involved in rounding up thousands of innocent Catholics and interning them without trial. The vast majority of these people would never have supported terrorism; however, the internment camps became the recruiting ground of the IRA. Recent history reminds us that the British have learned little from their mistakes, to win a war you must win hearts and minds; you don’t achieve that through inhumanity and brutality. My Uncle Sean McKenna and his son Sean Jnr were interned without trial. The European Commission would later make findings that my Uncle Sean and his comrades were tortured by the British, Uncle Sean was one of the men who famously became known as the 10 Hooded Men, due to the fact that the British placed hoods on their heads while torturing them".

Internees Being taken onto the Maidstone Prison Ship

INTERNMENT

It was early morning on the 9^th of August 1970 that British soldiers launched operation Demetrius, the introduction of internment without trial. Internment had been employed by the Unionist Government at Stormont in every decade since the creation of the northern state as a means to suppress Republican opposition. In the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s republican suspects had been imprisoned without trial. As violence increased in 1970 the Unionist Government again came under increasing pressure to clamp down on the activities of the IRA. By August 1970 the Stormont Government had convinced the British Government that internment offered the best method of dealing with the increasing violence, and pointed to its repeated success in previous decades. In an attempt to reduce the expected nationalist outrage a ban on all parades was announced at the same time, aimed at defusing the potential for unrest that the Apprentice Boys parade on the 12th August posed.

The arrests were based on outdated lists containing 450 names provided by the RUC Special Branch; the British Army swept into nationalist areas of the north and arrested 342 men. The RUC intelligence, however, was hopelessly outdated and many of those arrested had no connections with the IRA. Others, although Republican minded, had not been active in decades. Others arrested included prominent members of the Civil Rights movement. In one instance in Armagh the British Army sought to arrest a man who had been dead for the past 4 years. It appears that the rapid radicalisation of much of the north’s nationalist community, and the RUC’s alienation from that community in the previous 2 years, had created a large intelligence gap in RUC files. Indeed, so out of date were the lists that within 48 hours 116 of those arrested were released. The remainder were detained at Crumlin Rd prison and the prison-ship The Maidstone.

No Loyalists were arrested in the operation, despite the fact that the UVF had been active since 1966. The first Protestant internees were not arrested until 2nd February 1973.

The Nationalist/Catholic community was outraged. This anger was reinforced when news of the treatment of the internees, particularly 11 men, including Sean McKenna, who became known as the "hooded men" became public. This anger took the form of increased support for the IRA and the commencement of a campaign of civil disobedience that enjoyed overwhelming support within the nationalist community.

Concern from the public at the treatment of many of the internees led to the establishment of the Compton Commission, which reported in November 1971. This report concluded that whilst detainees had suffered ill treatment this did not constitute brutality or torture. Incidents of ill treatment included:

·     In-depth interrogation with the use of hooding, white noise, sleep deprivation, prolonged enforced physical exercise together with a diet of bread and water.

·         Deceiving detainees into believing that they were to be thrown from high flying helicopters, in reality the blindfolded detainees were thrown from a helicopter that hovered approximately 4 feet above the ground.

·         Forcing detainees to run an obstacle course over broken glass and rough ground whilst being beaten by British soldiers.

The botched arrests and stories of brutality escaping from the internment centres and the reintroduction of internment, which was viewed as a form of communal punishment and humiliation, unleashed a wave of violence across the north, with practically no military gains to offset the impact internment had on the entire nationalist community.

In Belfast the IRA held a press conference on the 13th August at which Joe Cahill, the Officer Commanding the IRA in Belfast, claimed that internment had had no noticeable effect on IRA structures and the campaign would continue. The statistics add weight to his words. In the remainder of August 1971 35 people were killed, 1 more than the total for the previous 7 months, and c. 7,000 Catholic families had fled across the border. By the year’s end 139 people had been killed since the introduction of internment.

Non-violent opposition to internment  was marked by a number of rallies and marches were planned. On Christmas Day 1971 c. 4,000 protestors attempted to march from Belfast to Long Kesh. This march was blocked before reaching its destination on the M1 motorway and dispersed. On the 22nd January another protest march took place at Magilligan Strand, not far from Derry City.

This protest was blocked by the British Army and dispersed with violence, in which members of the Parachute Regiment were prominent. The next anti-internment rally was planned for Derry, on Sunday 30th January 1972.

Seamus McKenna dead, Continuity IRA, accident, dissident republicans, omagh bomb, sean mckenna, real ira

Seamus McKenna, Continuity IRA, accident, dissident republicans, omagh bomb, sean mckenna, real ira

New: Sean McKenna, Autobiography: Voice from the Grave

Seamus McKenna Funeral

17/7/2013: Thousands of Irish Republicans are gathering this morning for the funeral of Vol. Seamus McKenna, republicans from across Ireland have gathered in south Armagh and north Louth, to say farewell to a dedicated and staunch republican. The funeral has begun at the home of McKenna’s son Sean in the Armagh village of Silverbridge. The funeral procession will travel across the border to St Mary’s Church, Ravensdale for mass at 11am, with burial afterwards in the church cemetery.

Teams of uniformed and armed gardaí set up checkpoints on approach roads around 1km around Ravensdale and searched cars making their way to the funeral at St Mary’s Church. Gardaí also questioned mourners, took personal details and requested ID from many of those attending. The Garda Dog Unit is also at the scene and reinforcements from the Public Order Unit in Leinster Area are on standby. A Garda Helicopter is monitoring the funeral.

16/7/2013: Gardai are concerned that attempts will be made by dissident republican groups to stage a paramilitary display at Seamus’s funeral in Ravensdale, Dundalk, tomorrow. His remains were removed last night to his son's home from a funeral home in his native Silverbridge, Co Armagh. Seamus McKenna was born in Monaghan, and lived in Clara in North Monaghan until he was a teenager. The family then moved to O’Neill Avenue in Newry and later Seamus moved to Silverbridge and then Dundalk.

Seamus McKenna RIP 13/7/2013 (Sad news received after the article below was written)

Seamus McKenna, Óglaigh na hÉireann, has been seriously injured after falling from a school roof while working in County Louth. McKenna has been a life-long republican and member of the IRA, McKenna never faltered in his dedication to the Irish Republican Army and that dedication was within the ranks of the Continuity IRA since 1986, although Seamus would have assisted anyone opposed to the British occupation. Seamus is, at the time of writing, on a life support machine.

In 2003 Seamus was found in possession of 1,200Lb bomb near Dundalk and sentenced to six years in Portlaoise Prison, while the DPP appealed the sentence handed down, the Court of Criminal Appeal found that the sentence was appropriate due to McKenna’s previous lack of convictions.

Seamus McKenna's Father, Sean McKenna Snr was interned and tortured in 1970 and, both Sean and other men who had been interned and tortured would have their inhumane treatment declared as such by the European Commission (Now The European Court of Human Rights).

Seamus McKenna was named in a civil action taken by the families of victims of the Omagh bomb, however, the case against Seamus McKenna was dismissed and no evidence was adduced to secure either civil or criminal conviction. McKenna was named as allegedly one of the Real IRA team which transported the Omagh bomb into the County Tyrone town in August 1998. Twenty nine people, including the mother of unborn twins, were killed in the blast while hundreds more were badly injured.

A couple of weeks back when life-long republican Ruairi O Bradaigh was buried, Seamus reflected on the time that Sean McKenna Snr had been buried in Clara in North Monaghan, and Ruairi had given the oration. On that day Sean Jnr (who was on the run) had been preparing to fire a volley of shots over his Father’s coffin with his Father’s personal colt 45 revolver when he was attacked by agents of the state, the gun that Sean was carrying, went off and his uncle Patsy McKenna was shot in the leg by accident. 

Tragic Death of Sean McKenna

December, 2008

In December 2008 IRA Volunteer Sean McKenna died suddenly and goes now to rest after a life of dedication to the cause of Irish Freedom. Sean McKenna served many long hard years in Long Kesh and other British hell holes. When released from prison Sean McKenna was frail, having been on hunger strike and then being subjected to institutional torture in Long Kesh. 

Sean sought work with his cousin Vincent McKenna in Monaghan Mushrooms, and was happy working long hard hours to pay his way in the world. Sean later moved to his loved County Kerry, a county he truly enjoyed.

Sean McKenna died in 2008 at his home in Dundalk. Sean never fully recovered from his ordeal on the first H-Block hunger strike in 1980 which lasted for fifty three days. Sean was buried on Monday, 22nd December 2008, in Calvary cemetery, Ravensdale, County Louth, after Requiem Mass in nearby St Mary’s Church.

Republicans from across Ireland, including many former prisoners and surviving hunger strikers, attended the funeral.

Vol. Sean McKenna had been illegally arrested, along with his Father, and hundreds of others, by the British army on 9^th August, 1970. His father was one of the ‘hooded men’ and died whilst in his early forties as a result of being tortured. Father and son were both interned in Long Kesh. After his release Sean returned to active service but lived in County Louth at Edentubber.

On 12th March 1976 members of an SAS undercover team crossed the border and abducted Sean, again illegally, without any protest from the Dublin government at the breach of its sovereignty. Sean was sentenced in a Diplock Court and was on the blanket for several years prior to the hunger strike.

It was later alleged that the SAS who had kidnapped Sean McKenna was led by the infamous Captain Niarac, who was later executed by the IRA and his body never recovered. However, Sean McKenna was not able to confirm that Niarac was involved in his illegal kidnapping.

Below: Extract from soon to be published Autobiography of Vincent McKenna:

"The British Army also fell foul of the Catholic population when they were involved in rounding up thousands of innocent Catholics and interning them without trial. The vast majority of these people would never have supported terrorism; however, the internment camps became the recruiting ground of the IRA. Recent history reminds us that the British have learned little from their mistakes, to win a war you must win hearts and minds; you don’t achieve that through inhumanity and brutality. My Uncle Sean McKenna and his son Sean Jnr were interned without trial. The European Commission would later make findings that my Uncle Sean and his comrades were tortured by the British, Uncle Sean was one of the men who famously became known as the 10 Hooded Men, due to the fact that the British placed hoods on their heads while torturing them".

Internees Being taken onto the Maidstone Prison Ship

INTERNMENT

It was early morning on the 9^th of August 1970 that British soldiers launched operation Demetrius, the introduction of internment without trial. Internment had been employed by the Unionist Government at Stormont in every decade since the creation of the northern state as a means to suppress Republican opposition. In the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s republican suspects had been imprisoned without trial. As violence increased in 1970 the Unionist Government again came under increasing pressure to clamp down on the activities of the IRA. By August 1970 the Stormont Government had convinced the British Government that internment offered the best method of dealing with the increasing violence, and pointed to its repeated success in previous decades. In an attempt to reduce the expected nationalist outrage a ban on all parades was announced at the same time, aimed at defusing the potential for unrest that the Apprentice Boys parade on the 12th August posed.

The arrests were based on outdated lists containing 450 names provided by the RUC Special Branch; the British Army swept into nationalist areas of the north and arrested 342 men. The RUC intelligence, however, was hopelessly outdated and many of those arrested had no connections with the IRA. Others, although Republican minded, had not been active in decades. Others arrested included prominent members of the Civil Rights movement. In one instance in Armagh the British Army sought to arrest a man who had been dead for the past 4 years. It appears that the rapid radicalisation of much of the north’s nationalist community, and the RUC’s alienation from that community in the previous 2 years, had created a large intelligence gap in RUC files. Indeed, so out of date were the lists that within 48 hours 116 of those arrested were released. The remainder were detained at Crumlin Rd prison and the prison-ship The Maidstone.

No Loyalists were arrested in the operation, despite the fact that the UVF had been active since 1966. The first Protestant internees were not arrested until 2nd February 1973.

The Nationalist/Catholic community was outraged. This anger was reinforced when news of the treatment of the internees, particularly 11 men, including Sean McKenna, who became known as the "hooded men" became public. This anger took the form of increased support for the IRA and the commencement of a campaign of civil disobedience that enjoyed overwhelming support within the nationalist community.

Concern from the public at the treatment of many of the internees led to the establishment of the Compton Commission, which reported in November 1971. This report concluded that whilst detainees had suffered ill treatment this did not constitute brutality or torture. Incidents of ill treatment included:

·     In-depth interrogation with the use of hooding, white noise, sleep deprivation, prolonged enforced physical exercise together with a diet of bread and water.

·         Deceiving detainees into believing that they were to be thrown from high flying helicopters, in reality the blindfolded detainees were thrown from a helicopter that hovered approximately 4 feet above the ground.

·         Forcing detainees to run an obstacle course over broken glass and rough ground whilst being beaten by British soldiers.

The botched arrests and stories of brutality escaping from the internment centres and the reintroduction of internment, which was viewed as a form of communal punishment and humiliation, unleashed a wave of violence across the north, with practically no military gains to offset the impact internment had on the entire nationalist community.

In Belfast the IRA held a press conference on the 13th August at which Joe Cahill, the Officer Commanding the IRA in Belfast, claimed that internment had had no noticeable effect on IRA structures and the campaign would continue. The statistics add weight to his words. In the remainder of August 1971 35 people were killed, 1 more than the total for the previous 7 months, and c. 7,000 Catholic families had fled across the border. By the year’s end 139 people had been killed since the introduction of internment.

Non-violent opposition to internment  was marked by a number of rallies and marches were planned. On Christmas Day 1971 c. 4,000 protestors attempted to march from Belfast to Long Kesh. This march was blocked before reaching its destination on the M1 motorway and dispersed. On the 22nd January another protest march took place at Magilligan Strand, not far from Derry City.

This protest was blocked by the British Army and dispersed with violence, in which members of the Parachute Regiment were prominent. The next anti-internment rally was planned for Derry, on Sunday 30th January 1972.

Dissident Republicans, Real Ira Dublin, The IRA, weapons find, Dublin arrests, provisional IRA weapons

Dissident Republicans, Real Ira Dublin, The IRA, weapons find, Dublin arrests, provisional IRA weapons

Explosives, firearms and ammunition discovered in Dublin last week including provisional IRA weapons should have been decommissioned according to the gardaí

15kg of Semtex explosive along with handguns, shotguns, a sub-machine gun, electronic devices and over 1,300 rounds of ammunition were found on land at the Old Airport Road, Cloghran in Co Dublin.

It is the largest dissident republican arms dump the gardaí have ever found.

Gardaí say not only does the seizure represent a major blow to the activities of dissident republicans, there is no doubt it has also saved lives.

It may be reminiscent of a different time but this is the largest seizure of weapons and explosives in more than a decade from the largest dissident republican arms dump the gardai have ever found 16kg of semtex explosive, electric igniters, detonator cord, fireworks and pipe bombs.

Replica and real guns including an UZI 9mm sub machine gun, revolvers, double barrel shotguns, pistols, an air rifle, a tazer, a silencer and around 100,300 rounds of ammunition.

Superintendent David Taylor said the seizure is a major blow to the activities of dissident republicans.

He said the only function of the guns and bombs is he said to kill and maim and there is no doubt that the seizure has saved lives Superintendent Taylor said the pipe bombs here have a bigger barrel than is usually found.

The semtex is old and very different from what is currently available which is more rigorously controlled and harder to acquire.

The bomb that killed PSNI constable Ronan Kerr two years ago contained around 100g of semtex - the amount seized here could make up to 150 of those bombs.

The range of electronic devices recovered also includes mobile phone blockers

Gardaí say this is a highly significant seizure.

The seizure is significant because it is the largest ever dissident republican arms and explosives find.

It is also significant as it appears to indicate that not all of the Provisional IRA's guns and bombs have been decommissioned.

Substantial quantities have ended up in the hands of dissident groups.

Peter butterly murder charges, dissident republicans, real ira, the ira, Oglaigh na hEireann

Peter butterly murder charges, dissident republicans, real ira, the ira, Oglaigh na hEireann

Four Dublin men have been charged at the Special Criminal Court with the murder of dissident republican Peter Butterly.

Mr Butterly, a 35-year-old father of two, was shot dead in the car park of the Huntsman Inn at Gormanston, Co Meath last March.

Edward Mc Grath (32), of Land Dale Lawns, Springfield, Tallaght; Dean Evans (22), of Grange Park Rise, Raheny; David Cullen (29), of Brackenwood Ave, Balbriggan; and Sharif Kelly (43) of Pinewood Green Road, Balbriggan were this morning charged with the murder of Peter Butterly at The Huntsman Inn on March 6th.

State solicitor Michael O’Donovan told the non-jury court that the case had been brought before the Special Criminal Court as the Director of Public Prosecutions had certified the ordinary courts were inadequate to secure the administration of justice.

Mr Evans and Mr Mc Grath were also charged with the unlawful possession of a 9mm calibre Beretta model 9000s semi-automatic pistol and seven rounds of 9mm parabellum calibre ammunition at The Huntsman Inn, Gormanston, Co Meath on March 6th.

None of the four accused men stood when requested to as the charges were read to them by the court registrar, while the court heard that Sharif Kelly was the only one of the four men to make any reply when charged.

Detective Sergeant Vincent Markey told Mr O’Donovan that he arrested Mr Kelly at his home shortly before eight o’clock this morning.

He said that at the time of the arrest he had reasonable cause to believe Sharif Kelly committed the offence of which he is charged.

Det Sgt Markey said the accused man, who appeared before the court wearing a cream top with a dark collar, replied “no” when cautioned.

He agreed with Mr Sharif’s solicitor that the accused man had been previously arrested in relation to the investigation and had been twice released without charge.

Det Sgt Markey agreed that he “no difficulties” in finding Mr Sharif this morning for the purposes of making the arrest.

Last March Mr Evans, Mr Mc Grath and Mr Cullen were charged in connection with the fatal shooting at a special weekend sitting of the non-jury court.

Mr Evans and Mr Mc Grath were each charged with the unlawful possession of a 9mm calibre Beretta model 9000s semi-automatic pistol and seven rounds of ammunition with intent to endanger life at the car park of The Huntsman Inn, Gormanston, Co Meath on March 6th, 2013.

They are also each charged with membership of an illegal organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann on the same date.

David Cullen was charged with the unlawful possession of a 9mm calibre Beretta model 9000s semi-automatic pistol at Gormanston, Co Meath on March 6th.

There was no application for bail or legal aid on behalf of any of the four men this morning.

Presiding judge Mr Justice Paul Butler remanded Mr Evans, Mr Mc Grath and Mr Cullen in custody to appear before the court again on July 26th. Mr Kelly was remanded in custody until July 16th.

Dissident republicans, real ira Dublin, special criminal court Dublin, an garda siochana

Dissident republicans, real ira Dublin, special criminal court Dublin, an garda siochana

Eight Dublin men have been remanded in custody charged with offences connected to a Garda investigation into dissident republican activities.

At special sittings of the Special Criminal Court yesterday, all eight were charged with membership of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Óglaigh na hÉireann or the IRA.

One of the accused was further charged with possession of ammunition.

The charges follow a Garda investigation into dissident republican activity in the Dublin area.

Detectives made a number of arrests at a house in Tallaght in the southwest of the city on Wednesday and in Cloghran in north County Dublin.

The seven men charged solely with IRA membership are Peter Burns, 39, of Glenshane Crescent, Tallaght; Kevin Braney, 39, also of Glenshane Crescent, Tallaght; Michael Barr, 33, of Carlton Court, Poppintree, Ballymun; Brian Nick McBennett, 54, of Ard Collum Avenue, Artane; John Brock, 41, of Glenview Park, Tallaght; Declan Phelan, 31, of Lanndale Lawns, Tallaght and Desmond Christie, 49, of Liam Mellows Road, Finglas.

The non-jury court heard details of arrest, charge and caution from the seven different detectives who had arrested the accused men this evening.

The court heard that all but two of the men made no reply to the charge.

Detective Garda Graham Dunne testified that when he put the charge to Mr Barr, he denied membership.

"I'm not a member of the IRA or any illegal organisation," he replied when shown his charge sheet before the court sat.

Detective Garda Nicky Conneely gave evidence that Brian Nick McBennett also denied the charge when put to him.

"I am not a member," he replied when shown his charge sheet.

The registrar asked each of the men to stand while he read the charge to them. None of them did so.

Mr Justice Paul Butler presiding remanded all seven in custody to appear before the three-judge court again on Tuesday.

At a separate special sitting, 45-year-old Stephen Hendrick of Balbutcher Drive, Ballymun was charged with IRA membership on Wednesday last.

He was also charged with possession of ammunition in suspicious circumstances on the same date at Furry Park, Turnapin Great, Old Airport Road, Cloughran in Co Dublin.

Detective Sergeant Vincent Markey testified that he believed he had committed both offences when he arrested him on Ballymun Road this afternoon.

He told the non-jury court that Mr Hendrick replied "no comment" when he put the charge to him before the court sat this evening.

Solicitor for the State Michael Brady confirmed that the Director of Public Prosecutions had directed that Mr Hendrick be charged with both offences before the three-judge court.

Mr Justice Butler presiding agreed to deal with the case.

The accused did not stand to hear the charges read out to him when asked to do so by the registrar.

The registrar read out both charges, which detailed the 59 rounds of ammunition of various calibres and brands that he was accused of possessing.

Mr Justice Butler granted a defence request for tapes of Mr Hendrick's Garda interviews and said that the court would grant legal aid at the next sitting if there was no objection.

He remanded Mr Hendrick in custody to appear again on Wednesday.

Dissident republicans, belfast convictions

William Barker, 40, from Filbert Drive, and Christopher Notorantonio, 41, from Avoca Close, were led away to begin their three and a half and two and a half years terms respectively.

However, John Clarke, 37, walked free from Belfast Crown Court on time served.

His Honour Judge Kinney handed Clarke, from Ardglen Place, a year in jail but like his co-accused, ordered that he spend half in jail and half on supervised licence.

On being told he has already served six months on remand, the judge said that Clarke was free to go.

Last month their trial was halted after Barker and Notorantonio pleaded guilty to blackmailing £12,500 from a businessman known only as witness A on dates between 15 - 24 September 2010.

Clarke pleaded guilty to assisting offenders.

Jailing the trio, Judge Kinney said while every extortion crime was different, a "common thread" was that perpetrators of this "ugly crime will usually seek out vulnerable people as their victims."

The trial had heard how Clarke and Barker went to Witness A's place of work and demanded that he hand over £8,500 as the pair knew he had been involved with a man who had been shot in the legs three days earlier.

Giving his testimony from behind a screen, Witness A recounted how he withdrew the cash from his account and handed it over - but that a demand for a further £4,000 was issued at the time with the gang, which claimed to be from the IRA, warning him that the press was "jumping at the bit for a story".

The matter was reported to the police the following week and when arrangements were made for the handover of the further cash, police swooped and arrested Barker and Notorantonio, recovering an envelope stuffed with cash from the glove box of the Vauxhall Vectra car they were in.

On Thursday, Judge Kinney said Clarke had pleaded guilty on the basis that he did not "immediately remove or distance himself" from the extortion plot.