A detective chief superintendent has told the Special Criminal Court he formed the opinion that a Dublin man was a member of the IRA, when the accused was around 15 years old.
Det Chief Supt Philip Kelly, who heads the Special Detective Unit, was giving evidence in the trial of Vincent Kelly, now 21, who was arrested when gardaí found a handgun hidden inside a van stopped on the Malahide Road in north Dublin in June last year.
Mr Kelly of Empress Place, Ballybough, Dublin has pleaded not guilty to membership of the IRA on June 7th 2005.
Det Chief Supt Kelly told Mr Tom O'Connell SC, prosecuting, that based on confidential information available to him, he believed Mr Kelly was a member of an illegal organisation styling itself the IRA on June 7th 2005.
Under cross-examination, the witness said he had formed his opinion approximately six years before that date and agreed that Mr Kelly would then have been 14 or 15 years old. He said he believed Mr Kelly continues to be a member of the IRA.
Det Chief Supt Kelly told the court he was claiming privilege over the information available to him, because he said if he disclosed it, it could damage other security operations against the IRA and would also endanger life.
The court heard Mr Kelly denied in interviews with garda detecties that he was a member of the IRA.
Mr Kelly made no reply when it was put to him by detectives that he was part of an IRA unit involved in extorting money from drug dealers in the Dublin area, the court was told. He stated that he was not a member of an illegal organisation and agreed the IRA was such an organisation.
The trial continues tomorrow.