A former driver for Sinn Fein minister Conor Murphy is at the centre of a legal row in the Republic after being charged with possessing a deadly AK-47 rifle.

Co Armagh man Padraig ‘Paudie’ Treanor — who was employed by Sinn Fein to work as a driver for the Newry and Armagh MP until late 2007 — appeared in court in Monaghan last week charged with possessing an assault rifle and |ammunition.

Treanor (31) was one of a pool of drivers employed by the Sinn Fein to drive senior members but since leaving the party’s employment he has worked as a tyre-repairer in Cullaville, south Armagh.

He is accused of having the weapon in Castleblayney, Co |Monaghan on November 28, 2007.

The legal row erupted when |a district judge lambasted a |suggestion by the director of |public prosecutions that Treanor be tried in his court on the charge of possessing the AK-47.

Mr Justice Sean McBride |declared it “outrageous” that the DPP recommended to Gardai that Treanor should be tried before a district court and directed the case be brought before a higher court.

The judge said it was “totally unacceptable”, given the current climate of gun crime in Dublin and elsewhere, that such a case did not merit trial before a circuit criminal court or at special |criminal court level.

The judge’s comments came after Garda Inspector Fintan |McKeirnan told the hearing the DPP had recommended the |prosecution be heard in the district court.

A solicitor for Treanor said the weapon in question might have been only a replica, but this was dismissed by Justice McBride |as immaterial in light of the |seriousness of the charge.

Mr Justice McBride then directed gardai to relay his directions to the DPP and remanded Treanor on bail until a further hearing on |January 14.

It is unclear when Treanor was arrested and charged with the|offence. But it is understood he was arrested by Gardai investigating the murder of Cullyhanna truck driver Paul Quinn.

Mr Quinn was savagely beaten to death by a gang who lured him to a cow shed in Castleblayney in October last year.

His family has blamed IRA members in south Armagh for the murder.

Fourteen arrests have been made as part of the cross-border investigation into the case, but no one has been brought before the courts.

slnews@belfasttelegraph.co.uk