The Court of Appeal has dismissed Colm Maguire’s appeal against his conviction for membership of the IRA, upholding the Special Criminal Court’s 2006 verdict and five-year sentence, with the final year suspended. The judgment, delivered on 23 April 2018, says Maguire has served the sentence.
Maguire was convicted of membership of an unlawful organisation on 23 August 2005, contrary to section 20(1) of the Offences Against the State Act 1939. The appeal challenged the Special Criminal Court’s reliance on a senior Garda officer’s belief evidence, its treatment of answers Maguire gave during questioning, and its acceptance of late evidence that a statutory provision was in force.
At trial, Detective Chief Superintendent Philip Kelly testified that he believed Maguire was an IRA member on the relevant date. Kelly said his belief was based on confidential information from Garda and non-Garda sources, including documented and possibly undocumented material. He claimed privilege over the underlying sources. The appeal court noted that Kelly was cross-examined and that the defence could test aspects of his evidence, though it could not access the privileged information.
The Special Criminal Court also heard surveillance evidence placing Maguire at Jurys Inn in Dublin with Alan Ryan and Patrick Kelly on 23 August 2005. Ryan was later arrested at Heuston Station with 149 rounds of ammunition. The trial court found no connection between Maguire and the ammunition, but found that he had not truthfully answered questions about being at the hotel and knowing Ryan. It treated those answers as capable of corroborating Kelly’s belief evidence. The trial court gave Maguire the benefit of the doubt regarding questions he did not answer after saying he was unwell.
The Court of Appeal rejected the argument that the privileged belief evidence made the trial unfair. It said the case did not rest solely on Kelly’s evidence and distinguished it from cases involving anonymous witnesses unavailable for cross-examination. The court also concluded that, read as a whole, the trial judgment showed the judges drew the inference that Maguire had lied to avoid incriminating himself in IRA membership, and had considered whether there could be another reason for the lies.
The appeal court further held that the Special Criminal Court could receive, before delivering judgment, official evidence that the 1998 Act remained in force. It found the late admission caused no significant prejudice and was a proper exercise of the trial court’s discretion. The appeal was dismissed; the Court of Appeal made no new sentence order.