James Joseph Cassidy jailed for IRA membership

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

James Joseph Cassidy was sentenced to four years in prison by the non-jury Special Criminal Court for membership of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Óglaigh na hÉireann, otherwise the IRA. The proceedings were reported on 27 May 2019.

Cassidy, of Tullycollive, Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, was found guilty in March 2019 of membership on 21 September 2016. He had denied the charge.

Passing sentence on 27 May 2019, presiding judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt said Cassidy’s membership had been “persistent and active” and that he had played a part in storing a booster tube. At the April sentence hearing, Detective Sergeant Kieran Reidy agreed with Padraig Dwyer SC, defending, that the tube was not a “primed device”. Mr Justice Hunt said it was accepted that further processing and manufacturing would have been required.

The judge said Cassidy was not a member at the organisation’s highest level. He identified a headline sentence of four years and six months, while the court heard that the main mitigating factor was Cassidy’s lack of previous convictions. The four-year sentence was backdated to 14 February 2019, when Cassidy went into custody.

In the March judgment, Mr Justice Hunt, sitting with Judge Patricia Ryan and Judge Ann Ryan, said evidence concerning the booster pipe, a USB key and mobile phones supported the belief evidence that Cassidy was an IRA member. He said the likelihood of another person placing the tube in the shed was “so remote and fanciful” that it could be dismissed.