A round-up of today's other court stories in brief
Families ask for release of bomb files
Relatives of some of the victims of the 1974 Dublin/Monaghan bombings have asked the High Court to order the Taoiseach to release documents to them from the recent MacEntee Inquiry into the atrocity.
Martha O'Neill, Elizabeth O'Brien and Frank Massey, relatives of five people killed in the Dublin bombings, are seeking the order requiring discovery of the documents against the Taoiseach and the Attorney General.
The State argues the discovery is not relevant to the relatives' case for a full investigation and/or public inquiry. The State also contends confidentiality agreements were reached with the UK government over the documents. It also pleads a "public interest" privilege, claiming that disclosure could present risk to people's lives.
No one has faced trial over the bombings, in which 35 people died.
New material relevant to the bombings was handed over to the office of the then taoiseach Bertie Ahern in apparently sealed boxes, said Eoin Mr McGonigal, SC, for the families. It had been made available by UK authorities, subject to a confidentiality clause.
Familiar face halts drugs trial
A jury in a drugs trial has been discharged at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court because a juror recognised a Garda witness from a Gaeltacht summer course nine years ago.
The juror alerted Judge Frank O'Donnell before the Garda witness began his evidence against the man, accused of possessing almost 500 grams of heroin in a Dublin lane three years ago.
Daragh Small (28), of Iveagh Gardens, Crumlin had pleaded not guilty to possessing heroin worth €97,000 in a plastic bag at Bow Lane West, Kilmainham, on December 2nd, 2005.
Judge O'Donnell said he was "left with no option" but to discharge the jury on day three of the trial, to avoid "unfairness".
More jail terms for murderer
A Belfast man who was jailed for life last week for the murder of taxi driver Edward Burns in the city was jailed for a further 15 years by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday.
Last week Gerard Mackin became the first person to be convicted by a Dublin court for a murder carried out in Northern Ireland, under a cross-Border anti-terrorist law introduced in 1976.
Yesterday he received additional sentences of 15 years for the attempted murder of Damien O'Neill, 10 years for possession of a revolver with intent to endanger life and 12 years for intentionally causing serious harm to Mr O'Neill. The court ordered all the sentences to run concurrently with the life sentence imposed last week.
Six months for sim cards in cell
A MAN who is serving nine years for killing his friend in a New Year's Eve fight has been sentenced to a further six months in prison for possession of a mobile phone and sim cards in his cell.
Karl Breen (28) was jailed in October 2007 for the manslaughter of Martin McLaughlin (21), who was stabbed three times, during a drunken row in the Jurys Croke Park Hotel on January 1st, 2006. Breen, of Nangor Crescent, Clondalkin, was charged with possession of a mobile phone and four sim cards in his cell at Portlaoise Prison in 2007 and 2008. The court heard that a phone was discovered during a search of Breen's cell.