Robert Day jailed for five years for IRA membership

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

The Special Criminal Court sentenced Robert Day to five years’ imprisonment for IRA membership, backdated to June 1, 2018, when he went into custody. Day had been convicted on June 1 of membership of an unlawful organisation styling itself as the IRA on October 9, 2015.

The court heard that Day had been a member of the IRA in Dublin since he was 18 or 19. In 2014, he was involved in an operation to buy €20,000 worth of forged €50 notes for €2,200 in legitimate money; gardaí foiled the operation, and Day was convicted under the Theft Act for possessing forged notes. In August 2015, members of a Belfast brigade questioned Day and others at a Castleknock house about who was responsible for operations foiled by gardaí. The court cited Day’s being on bail at the time of the membership offence and two previous convictions as aggravating factors, and his involvement in caring for his mother as a mitigating factor.