Two men acquitted of IRA membership as appeal for retrial fails

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

Two men acquitted of IRA membership will not be retried after the Court of Appeal dismissed the DPP’s appeal, reported on 23 December 2021.

The appeal court ruled that the Special Criminal Court should have admitted a chief superintendent’s belief evidence, then assessed what weight to give it.

The DPP appealed after the men were acquitted, arguing that the trial court had wrongly excluded compelling evidence.

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission appeared as amicus curiae and made submissions on safeguards for using belief evidence in the non-jury court.