Kevin Braney and Ciaran Maguire did not answer IRA questions, court hears

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

Kevin Braney and Ciaran Maguire did not answer detectives’ questions about suspected IRA activity during interviews on 2 August 2017, the Special Criminal Court heard.

Both men had pleaded not guilty to membership of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the IRA, on 2 August 2017. The proceedings were reported on 25 April 2018.

The prosecution alleged that one of the men told another man in Co Meath that they were the IRA and threatened to shoot him if he did not drop a claim against a former employer.

Detective Garda Brian Power said he interviewed Maguire at Finglas Garda Station. Detective Sergeant Carrie O’Connor said she interviewed Braney on the same date. The court heard that both detectives invoked a provision allowing a court to draw inferences from a suspect’s failure or refusal to answer questions about alleged IRA membership.

The defence objected to the admissibility of the interviews. The court heard evidence on that issue on 25 April. Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding with Judge Gerard Griffin and Judge Flann Brennan, said the court would rule the following morning. The trial continued.