The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal against the conviction of Ciaran Maguire for membership of an unlawful organisation, leaving the conviction in place. The court rejected all four grounds of appeal. It did not make a new finding of guilt or impose a new sentence in this judgment.
Maguire was convicted on 30 May 2018 of membership of the IRA on 2 August 2017, contrary to section 21 of the Offences Against the State Act 1939. The prosecution relied on a senior garda’s belief evidence, evidence about Maguire’s movements in July 2017, and inferences the trial court drew from his failure to answer certain questions.
The July evidence concerned two journeys to Oakleigh Estate at Longwood. The prosecution said the first, on 12 July, was reconnaissance before a visit on 13 July intended to intimidate Robert Moore. Moore testified that two men told him to drop his claim against his former employer over a workplace injury. He said one threatened that they would shoot him if they returned. The Court of Appeal’s judgment records this as Moore’s evidence.
Maguire argued that his August 2017 arrest was unlawful because he had previously been arrested without charge in June 2015 on suspicion of membership, and no warrant had been obtained for his later arrest. The court upheld the trial court’s conclusion that the 2017 investigation was prompted by new information arising from the July 2017 events, rather than the same offence investigated in 2015. It said the prosecution did not have to establish an uninterrupted factual narrative between the arrests. This ground failed.
The appeal court also rejected a challenge to the admission of Gardaí’s visual observations during surveillance. It held that the prosecution relied on eyewitness observations, not material directly generated by a surveillance device, and that the trial court was entitled to find the observations admissible under the ordinary rules of evidence. The court found no error in the trial judge’s handling of cross-examination of Moore, concluding that interventions were limited and did not unfairly impede the defence.
Finally, the court upheld the trial court’s admission of interview evidence under section 19 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984. It found that the Garda had clearly conveyed the required belief about Maguire’s presence at locations, and that questions about his presence on 12 and 13 July fell within the phrase “at or about” the time of the alleged 2 August offence in this case.
The appeal against conviction was dismissed.