Golf club bomb: Robert O'Leary supplied attack car

  • Published
Special Criminal Court in DublinImage source, RTÉ
Image caption,

Robert O'Leary was convicted at the Special Criminal Court sitting in Dublin

A Dublin man who supplied a car used in a bomb attack on a police officer in Belfast has been convicted of IRA membership.

Robert O'Leary, 42, from Clancy Road, Finglas, sold the car used to plant a bomb under the officer's car.

The device was discovered at Shandon Park Golf Club, east Belfast last year.

O'Leary had denied all involvement saying he would "never, never, never " take part in an IRA operation.

But the Special Criminal Court sitting in Dublin convicted him on Monday.

It found he had "put forward an implausible and false narrative" and got the car for a customer for a specific purpose.

It also found that O'Leary "invented the purchaser - some mysterious man - to break the link between him and the car".

O'Leary argued that "never in a million years" would he source a car for use in an IRA operation.

He insisted that all he did was sell a car without a log book. He was, he said, "a bit of an Arthur Daly, I had birdies for sale a few years ago, I had a good name around Finglas".

He is due to be sentenced on 5 October.