Omagh accused 'planned to ship weapons into schools'

Ireland

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Dissident Republicans planned to ship weapons and ammunition from the US to a school in Donegal, the Omagh civil court case heard today.

The landmark lawsuit, being taken against five men said to be responsible for the worst atrocity of the Northern Ireland conflict, heard the address of the school in Ballyshannon was given to an FBI agent who infiltrated the Real IRA.

The unprecedented hearing, which is taking evidence in Dublin, was told David Rupert passed the evidence on to gardai who were probing terrorist activity on both sides of the boarder.

The civil action by six families is against five men they believe are responsible for the RIRA blast, which killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.

Michael McKevitt, the alleged leader of the RIRA, Liam Campbell, said to be his number two, Colm Murphy, Seamus McKenna and Seamus Daly all deny any involvement in the bomb attack in the Co Tyrone town on a busy Saturday afternoon in August 1998.

Superintendent Diarmuid O'Sullivan, of the special detective unit, said five statements were taken from Rupert who, on January 20 2001 in Chicago, handed over a brown enveloped containing a number of documents.

The items, which were shown in the District Court, included a business card which he said he was given from veteran republican Joe O'Neill. It had "Kathleen Askin, Vocational School, College Street, Ballyshannon" handwritten on the top. Ms Askin was Mr O'Neill's sister and a teacher at the school.

"This was the address that David Rupert was given by Joe O'Neill to ship military supplies from the US for the continuity IRA," said Supt O'Sullivan.

Rupert also handed to officers a piece of paper with the name and address of a man in Worcester, Massachusetts.

"David Rupert indicated that this was the person that Michael McKevitt instructed him to meet in the US to conduct his affairs," the detective told the court.

The enveloped also included the name of a man who would act as a go between for a journalist at the Chicago and McKevitt, a number of receipts for the Republican Prisoners Welfare Association, and a photograph of Rupert with a another male.

Supt O'Sullivan said Rupert also identified three properties in Dundalk, Co Louth, which he maintained he had been in when he was involved with the terrorist group. They included McKevitt's family home.

When later arrested, McKevitt told Gardai he could not recall meeting Rupert - who was 6ft 7ins tall and weighs 20 stone.