A.B. acquitted of IRA membership charge

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

A.B. remained acquitted of an IRA membership charge after the Court of Appeal’s judgment on 6 July 2015.

The acquittal followed the Special Criminal Court’s ruling that his arrest was unlawful under section 30A of the Offences Against the State Act 1939. The Court of Appeal held that court was not correct in its interpretation of the provision, but said its answer was without prejudice to the acquittal.

The appeal court said membership could represent a continuing state of affairs without being permanent. Whether the suspected membership on two occasions amounted to the same offence was a question of fact requiring evaluation of the circumstances, facts and events behind the later arrest.