Michael Connolly's miscarriage of justice certificate quashed

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

The Court of Appeal quashed Michael Connolly’s miscarriage of justice certificate in a judgment delivered on 31 July 2026.

The court held that the Special Criminal Court had made an error of principle: the circumstances of Connolly’s original IRA membership conviction could not support a certificate under the Criminal Procedure Act 1993. It said the certificate was not among the options properly open to the SCC, and that granting it was unreasonable and a fundamental error of law.

Connolly was convicted of IRA membership in 2017, but the Court of Appeal overturned that conviction in 2018 and he was acquitted at a retrial in 2019. The SCC later granted him a miscarriage of justice certificate; the Court of Appeal’s ruling quashes that certificate.