A Co Monaghan man who admitted having explosives near the Border in 1995 had his sentence adjourned for a year by the Special Criminal Court yesterday. Padraig Fee (19), a building labourer, of Tattyboy, Inniskeen, pleaded guilty to the unlawful possession of an explosive substance at Tattyboy on November 10th, 1995.
Det-Sgt Dennis Fallon told the court that the charge arose from the discovery by gardai of explosives in a van and out-houses at Longfield, Co Monaghan. Last week, a former leading member of Republican Sinn Fein, Michael Hegarty, was jailed for 10 years in connection with the find.
Det-Sgt Fallon said that Fee had been approached by an older man and asked to "shift some stuff". He had carried the homemade explosives from a shed where they were being stored to the Hiace van where they were later found by gardai. After his arrest, Fee, who had no previous convictions, had co-operated fully with gardai.