An appeal by a Dublin man against his conviction of IRA membership has been dismissed by the Court of Criminal Appeal.
Vincent Kelly (22), who was arrested wearing an Óglaigh na hÉireann (IRA) T-shirt, was found guilty at the non-jury Special Criminal Court in June 2006 of membership of the IRA. He was sentenced to five years in jail.
Kelly, Empress Place, Ballybough, was arrested when gardaí found a semi-automatic 9mm handgun hidden in a van on the Malahide Road, Dublin, a canister of CS gas, two rounds of ammunition, two balaclavas and two pairs of gloves.
He had denied the charge.
The three-judge court, comprising Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan, presiding, with Mr Justice Daniel Herbert and Mr Justice John MacMenamin, yesterday dismissed Kelly's appeal against conviction.
The appeal was brought on grounds including that the trial judges had erred in accepting evidence given during his trial by a Garda superintendent and also erred in drawing adverse inferences from Kelly's attitude to questions put to him by gardaí in interviews.
In its reserved judgment, the Court of Criminal Appeal said it could find no error and ruled the conviction should stand.
In June 2005, gardaí stopped a van outside a house that had been linked to drug-related activities. When Kelly, a passenger, was approached by a garda, he said he was on his way to get chips. He was detained for a search and, while no drugs were found, the handgun and other items were.
A Garda superintendent said Kelly had been convicted of unlawful drilling or marching, after being arrested at a Real IRA camp when he was 15 and was given a three-year suspended sentence.