Six Dublin men have IRA arrests ruled unlawful

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

The Special Criminal Court ruled on 26 June 2015 that the arrests of six Dublin men accused of IRA membership were unlawful. Mr Justice Tony Hunt said the arrests under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act fell short of a “modest level of necessary objective justification”.

The six were Brian Nick McBennett, Kevin Braney, Michael Barr, John Brock, Declan Phelan and Desmond Christie. The seventh accused, Peter Burns, did not challenge the legality of his arrest.

Each man faced a charge of membership of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, or the IRA, on 3 July 2013. All seven had pleaded not guilty. The proceedings were reported on 27 June 2015.

Three days before publication, Mr Justice Tony Hunt had ruled that evidence relating to a search warrant for a house in Tallaght was admissible. The court found both the issuing of the warrant by a district court judge and its execution valid.

The court had heard that gardaí found two packages of tightly folded paper wrapped in clingfilm on a coffee table in the room where the seven men were gathered. The packages were allegedly communications from prisoners in Portlaoise Prison.

At the trial’s opening, Tara Burns said the prosecution’s case was that the seven were meeting as IRA members at the house in Glenshane Crescent, Tallaght, to discuss those communications.

Following the arrest ruling, Tara Burns, for the State, said she needed instructions from the DPP and requested an adjournment until Tuesday.