IRA membership trial to proceed after bugging query

The Special Criminal Court has ruled that an IRA membership trial can proceed after a senior garda told the court that phone lines at two Garda stations connected to the investigation were not linked to a recording system.

However, the three-judge court has adjourned the trial until next Tuesday to allow the defendants to seek physical inspections of the stations at Cahir and Clonmel in Co Tipperary.

Garda Supt Michael Flynn of the telecommunications section said that based on his inquiries over the past 48 hours, he had established that designated phone lines at 23 divisional headquarters outside Dublin were connected to a recording system. The command and control centre at Garda headquarters and a standby centre at Harcourt Square in Dublin were also connected.

Supt Flynn said Cahir and Clonmel stations were not on the system.

Recordings from the connected stations were uploaded onto a central server at Garda headquarters, Supt Flynn told the court. They could be accessed locally on the direction of a chief superintendent in any area.

In the court’s ruling, Mr Justice Paul Butler said Supt Flynn had given “very impressive” evidence. The witness had said that Cahir and Clonmel stations were not connected to the recording system, the judge said. “We are convinced by that evidence and in our view the case should go on.”

Recordings could be carried out anywhere, the judge said, but the court was dealing with an allegation of “systematic” recording.

Mr Justice Butler adjourned the trial until next Tuesday to allow the defendants to decide whether they wanted physical inspections of the two stations to be carried out. This had previously been suggested by counsel for one of the defendants. “We don’t readily see where this would get them but we are willing to put it back to Tuesday,” the judge said.

Earlier this morning, Mr Justice Butler said the president of the High Court had provided guidance as to assistance the courts should seek arising out of the phone taping revelations that emerged in recent days.

Mr Justice Butler said it was suggested that courts should initially seek clarification from counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions on the issue. Defendants’ counsel should then make submissions as they see fit, he added.

Mr Justice Butler said the “overriding concern” of the court and the president of the High Court was “the proper administration of justice”.

Thomas McMahon (31) and his co-accused Noel Noonan (34) were due to stand trial at the Special Criminal Court yesterday, but Isobel Kennedy SC said a matter had arisen “in light of recent events of which we are all aware”.

Ms Kennedy told the non-jury court her client had consulted with his solicitor over the telephone on the evening of February 7th, 2013 and she had made an inquiry of the prosecution as to whether this conversation was conducted in private or otherwise.

She said her client was interviewed after this telephone conversation. Referring to “matters that had recently arisen” in the public domain, Ms Kennedy had earlier said she would have “concerns” if the court was to embark on its own investigation on phone recordings in advance of that to be carried out by the Commission of Inquiry announced by the Government this week.

Mr Justice Butler said that if there was satisfactory evidence that there was no recording in Clonmel or Cahir stations, the court would not be interfering with the broader inquiry.

Mr McMahon, of Ros Fearna, Murroe, Limerick, and Mr Noonan, with an address at St Patrick’s Hostel, Clare Street, Limerick, are each charged with membership of an unlawful organisation within the State styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Óglaigh na hÉireann, otherwise the IRA on February 7th, 2013.