Two men who admitted being members of the "Real IRA" were today jailed for 18 months each by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin.
Laurence Keane (23), of William Street, Athy, Co Kildare, and Stephen O'Rourke (22), of Castle Park, Athy, admitted being members of an illegal organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the "Real IRA", on July 24th last year.
Det Supt Peter Maguire of the Special Detective Unit told the court the two men were arrested as part of an investigation into a training camp at Killart Bog, Co Kildare, last year.
He was satisfied that both men were admitted into the illegal organisation during the camp's existence and that they played a peripheral part in the site's maintenance, he said.
Jailing both men, Mr Justice Richard Johnson said they had admitted being members of an illegal organisation that had been responsible "for a large number of crimes and atrocities over recent years".
Both men must have known the nature of the organisation and its activities, he said.
PA