DPP challenges declaration that IRA conviction was miscarriage of justice

The Director of Public Prosecutions has initiated High Court proceedings to challenge a Special Criminal Court determination that a man's conviction for IRA membership constituted a miscarriage of justice. Michael Connolly, aged 47, from County Louth, was originally convicted in 2017 and sentenced to three years imprisonment following his observation by gardaí in convoy near Convoy, County Donegal, in December 2014 alongside another man found carrying two improvised explosive devices. The Court of Appeal overturned his conviction in 2018, and he was subsequently acquitted following retrial in 2019. The Special Criminal Court found in June that the original conviction resulted from a grave defect in the administration of justice, determining that an Assistant Commissioner's belief evidence breached the "double-counting" rule by relying on material also contained in the book of evidence. The DPP contends the miscarriage finding is flawed and unsustainable, arguing evidence properly established Mr Connolly's involvement in transporting the devices. Mr Justice Meenan granted a stay on the decision, with the matter to return before the High Court in October.