‘Miscarriage of justice’ in case of alleged IRA membership

A MAN who spent 14 months in prison for IRA membership has had his conviction declared a miscarriage of justice.

The Special Criminal Court yesterday ruled that there had been a ‘grave defect’ in the administration of justice brought about ‘by agents of the State’.

The non-jury court yesterday found that Garda Assistant Commissioner Michael O’Sullivan, who gave evidence of his belief that Louth man Michael Connolly, 47, was an IRA member, had made ‘an unqualified assertion’ during the trial that none of the material he viewed that formed the basis of his belief was in the book of evidence against the accused man.

The Special Criminal Court described this assertion as ‘seriously incomplete and misleading’.

The court found there was no evidence that Assistant Commissioner O’Sullivan made his assertion in the knowledge that it was misleading and there could not be any such evidence, as he had no knowledge of what was in the book of evidence.

But the three-judge panel said they were satisfied that it was ‘careless’ of the Garda officer to make the relevant assertion without ‘being aware at least of the general nature of the alleged independent supporting evidence disclosed’ in the book of evidence, and because he knew or ought to have known December 16 was a date of relevance to matters contained in the book of evidence.