Three charged with INLA membership
Three men charged with INLA membership were granted bail at the Special Criminal Court today.
Gareth Dunne (aged 22), Clonard Rd, Crumlin, Dublin 12, Gerard Kelleher (aged 27), Cathedral View Walk, Kevin St, Dublin 8, and Edward McGarrigle (aged 42), Melmont Gardens, Strabane, Co Tyrone, are charged with membership of an illegal organisation styling itself the INLA on February 22, contrary to the Offences against the State Act.
Mr Dunne and Mr Kelleher were released on their own bonds of €100 and an independent surety of €20,000 each.
Mr Justice Paul Butler said that Mr McGarrigle could be released on his own bond of €100 and an independent surety of €40,000 or two each of €20,000.
Mr McGarrigle was remanded in custody until March when his independent surety is to be finalised.
He will also have to reside at an address within the Republic.
In addition, the men must obey a curfew between 11pm and 7am, surrender their passports, report daily to a garda station between 9am and 9pm and not enter Co Cork.
They will have to have a mobile phone in order to be contacted and are forbidden from associating with each other or any persons convicted or charged with scheduled offences.
The accused were also told not to contact directly or indirectly any witnesses the prosecution intend to call.
The State had earlier objected to bail.
Det Supt Diarmuid O’Sullivan, of the Special Detective Unit, Harcourt Square, told the court that he was objecting to bail because he believed that the accused men would “interfere with witnesses and abscond the country for the purposes of evading trial”.
He said that, if granted bail, the men would “commit further crime on behalf of the INLA”.
He said that there will be numerous witnesses involved in the trial, both garda and civilian.
Det Supt O’Sullivan told the court that the men were arrested as a result of an investigation which began in August last year.
“Mr McGarrigle, Mr Dunne and Mr Kelleher travelled to Cork on February 21, where they booked into accommodation using false identification,” he said.
He said that the men were “observed carrying out surveillance on the home of a Cork businessman” and that it was “necessary for the gardaí to bring this information to the attention of the businessman to protect him from the intentions of the INLA”.
Det Supt O’Sullivan said that on February 22, Mr Dunne and Mr Kelleher “entered the premises… wearing garden gloves and face masks” and were observed leaving a coal shed.
He told the court that when the coal shed was searched, a number of items were found, including “three knives, cable-ties, duct tape and other face masks, namely women’s tights for the purpose of concealing their identity”.
Det Supt O’Sullivan told the court that Mr Kelleher is presently charged with the possession of an unlawful weapon in November 2007 and that the trial date is up next month.
He said that Mr McGarrigle was convicted of conspiracy to murder in November 1990.
Granting bail, Mr Justice Butler said that Mr Dunne and Mr Kelleher have no previous convictions of any significance.
He said that he accepted the fears of Det Supt O’Sullivan but that there are mechanisms for dealing with fears of that nature.
Two other men were also charged last Monday with INLA membership. They are John McCrossan (aged 46), Ballycoleman Estate, Strabane, Co Tyrone and Neil Myles (aged 53), of no fixed abode.
All five men were remanded until April 15 when the case will be mentioned again.
