A Dublin man already serving a five-year prison sentence for membership of the "Real IRA" was given a further consecutive four-year sentence by the Special Criminal Court yesterday.
But Mr Justice Finnegan, presiding, said the court would suspend the final two years of the sentence because Declan Carroll was a "young man with life before him, who has every opportunity to take his place in a democratic State".
Carroll (27), Edenmore Crescent, Raheny - one of four men arrested when Special Branch detectives swooped on a hotel room in Bettystown, Co Meath - was convicted of membership of an illegal organisation on July 29th, 2001.
