Mairtin Manning jailed for explosives at Dublin court

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

Mairtin Manning and Declan McDermott were each sentenced to seven years in prison at the Special Criminal Court on 27 May 2019. Their sentences were backdated to April 2019, when they went into custody.

Both men pleaded guilty to knowingly possessing ten 400-gram blocks of TNT and the explosive head of an RGD33 hand grenade at Spring Garden Street, Dublin 3, on 2 June 2017. The proceedings were reported on 27 May 2019.

A third man, John O'Brien, admitted knowingly rendering assistance to an unlawful organisation in furtherance of an unlawful object involving possession of an explosive substance at his North Great Clarence Street home on 2 June 2017. He was sentenced to one year and six months in prison on 27 May 2019, backdated to 23 April 2019.

Presiding judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt said Manning and McDermott had acted as couriers and played an important role. He said their guilty pleas and lack of previous criminal convictions were the main mitigating factors, and there was no basis to differentiate between them.

The judge said further processing of the items would have been required and it could not be said that any of the men would have had a further role in that processing. He said O'Brien had assisted by agreeing to store a very significant amount of explosive material, and noted his early guilty plea, lack of previous convictions and illnesses.