Two men, charged with membership of an illegal organisation, have been further remanded to appear at the Special Criminal Court in October.
They are charged with membership of an illegal organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Óglaigh na hÉireann, otherwise the IRA on July 7th.
One of the men, Mr Richard Whyte (30), a former member of the Defence Forces and a trained sniper, of Richardstown, Kildangan, Co Kildare, was granted bail at a hearing this morning.
He was granted bail by Mr Justice Frederick Morris on a surety of £10,000 and on condition he sign on three times a week at Athy Garda Station.
Mr Whyte was also required to surrender his passport and pilot’s licence to Gardaí.
The court ordered that he undertake not to associate with anyone who had previously been convicted of a scheduled offence.
The court heard today that Mr Whyte, now unemployed, is a former member of the Defence Forces. He received an honourable discharge in the early 1990s after injuring his back.
He said a number of times giving evidence that he was not a member of the IRA. He said the material found at his house was there for "nostalgic reasons" from his days in the Defence Forces.
Mr Whyte told the court he had been a trained sniper in the Defence Forces and was interested in navigation exercises across country. He said he had refused to answer questions put to him by detectives over his friendship with members of the IRA because he was "afraid".
Detective Inspector Diarmuid O' Sullivan, of the Special Detective Unit, who opposed bail, said he believed Mr Whyte would commit further crimes if granted bail. He said that gardaí found camouflage netting, a black beret and camouflage gear as well as a notebook and sheets of paper when they searched Mr Whyte's house.
He said that in a follow up search gardaí discovered a hide at Killart Bog in Co Kildare where they found camouflage netting similar to that found in Whyte's house and documents with handwriting.
He said a preliminary examination by garda handwriting experts led them to be 99 per cent sure that the handwriting was Whyte's.
In the hide gardaí also found a Kalashnikov assault rifle, a Chinese SKS assault rifle, a revolver and ammunition. Detective Inspector O' Sullivan said the hide and the material found there was for the purposes of training volunteers in the IRA.
He said that the court will hear evidence at the trial from Chief Superintendent Sean Feely that he believes Mr Whyte was a member of an illegal organization on July 7th last.
The other man, Mr John Maloney (42) of St Martin's, Geraldine, Athy, Co Kildare, made no application for bail and was remanded in custody.