The Special Criminal Court in Dublin has fixed January 16th next year as the date for the trial of Mr Colm Murphy (47), a father of four, a building contractor and publican who is accused of plotting the Omagh bomb in which 29 people died on August 15th, 1998.
He is from Co Armagh, with an address at Jordan's Corner, Ravensdale, Co Louth. He is charged with conspiring in Dundalk with another person not before the court to cause an explosion in the State or elsewhere between August 13th and 16th, 1998.
He is also charged with membership of an illegal organisation, styling itself Oglaigh na hEireann, on August 14th, 1998.