A Co Cork chef arrested during a Garda investigation into IRA money laundering following the £26.5 million Northern Bank robbery in Belfast in 2004 has been convicted of IRA membership by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin.
Don Bullman was found in possession of a Daz washing powder box containing over €94,000 after his arrest outside Heuston Station in Dublin.
In interviews with gardaí, Bullman had denied all knowledge of the box and claimed not to have noticed it until gardaí asked him to pick it up off the ground.
Examinations of the Daz box revealed bundles of euro notes wrapped in cling-film amounting to €94,000. A handwritten note with a conversion table from sterling to euro was also found.
He said he was a long-standing supporter of Sinn Féin and admitted this would have brought him into contact with people who had been involved in the IRA but he denied meeting a number of people convicted of IRA membership.
Bullman (32), a chef and father of two, of Fernwood Crescent, Leghanamore, Wilton, Co Cork, had denied membership of an illegal organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Óglaigh na hÉireann, on February 16th, 2005.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Paul Butler, presiding at the three judge non-jury court, said the court was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the Daz box containing the money was in Bullman's holdall bag.
The judge said that there was Garda evidence that they were investigating an IRA money laundering operation but Bullman was not charged in relation to possession of the money and there was no evidence of the money's origin or of any robbery.
He said that the relevance of the state of mind of the gardaí was that it put their questioning in context and established that questions put to Bullman during interviews with the gardaí were material to their investigation.
The court heard during the trial that Bullman denied in interviews with the gardaí that he was a member of the IRA or had any involvement in its activities.
The judge said the court was satisfied that Bullman had failed to answer material questions put to him during interviews by the gardaí.
Mr Justice Butler said the court accepted the opinion evidence of Assistant Commissioner Ray McAndrew that Bullman was a member of the IRA.Mr McAndrew told the court that he was chief superintendent in charge of the Cork City division before his promotion.
He had also told the court that in February 2005 he was appointed detective chief superintendent in charge of the security and intelligence branch until his promotion to assistant commissioner.
Mr Mc Andrew said his belief that Bullman was a member of the IRA was based on material from Garda and non-Garda sources.
In his defence evidence Bullman said that he was a member of Sinn Féin in the past but was now merely a supporter.
He said he was well known within Sinn Féin and would have met people with a past in the IRA.
Bullman said that he attended a catering exhibition at the RDS every two years and that he had filled in an application form in his own name while travelling on the train from Cork.
He said he had not written the words "Gerry McCabe, catering officer, the Garda Club" on a name tag and said he had put the name tag in his back pocket because it was in bad taste.
Mr Justice Butler said the court must find on the basis of the evidence of a handwriting expert that Mr Bullman did write his own name on the application form but did not write "Gerry McCabe".
The judge said that having regard to all the evidence in the case, the failure of Bullman to answer material questions when interviewed by the gardaí was corroboration of the assistant commissioner's belief.
Bullman was remanded on continuing bail for sentence on March 14th next.