IRA conviction declared a miscarriage of justice

A man from Dundalk, County Louth, has had his conviction for IRA membership declared a miscarriage of justice by the Special Criminal Court. The applicant was originally convicted in June 2017 and spent fourteen months in custody. The court found that a Garda Assistant Commissioner made "an unqualified assertion" during the trial that material underlying his belief evidence was not contained in the Book of Evidence, a statement the judges described as "seriously incomplete and misleading". On retrial in 2019, the court ordered disclosure of intelligence file extracts which contradicted this assertion, leading to the applicant's acquittal. The Special Criminal Court determined that the Assistant Commissioner acted carelessly in making his assertion without proper awareness of the independent supporting evidence, and that this seriously undermined the original trial's fairness. The three-judge panel, presided over by Mr Justice Paul Coffey, approved the miscarriage of justice certificate, finding a grave defect in the administration of justice brought about by State agents.