Audio recordings of one of the most high-profile trials in Irish legal history has been rediscovered.
On 22 September 1970, one of the most sensational trials heard in Ireland began. Minister for Finance Charles Haughey, an intelligence officer in the Irish army Captain James Kelly, Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) leader John Kelly and Belgian businessman Albert Luykx faced charges of attempting to illegally import arms into the state. The sacked Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries Neil Blaney never stood trial as a district court judgement ruled there was insufficient evidence against him.
New light has been shed on the Arms Trial with the discovery of audio recordings, which capture some of the proceedings.
Unusually, parts of the trial were recorded and for half a century the tapes haven't been heard in public.
Michael Heney author of 'The Arms Crisis of 1970: The Plot that Never Was' explains that for almost 50 years the tapes lay hidden in a black briefcase in a Bank of Ireland vault.
A precious fragment of one of the great historic trials of the 20th century.
Among the recordings is a fraught encounter between Captain James Kelly and prosecuting counsel Seamus McKenna about Kelly's phone call to an official in Dublin seeking final approval for the arms shipment.
Michael Heney believes Seamus McKenna was attempting to destroy the witness's credibility, but
Kelly had plenty of grit.
The audio recording also includes the summing up by the defence counsel Niall McCarthy, who attacked the entire prosecution case.
The audio recordings from the trial, which ended in acquittals, will be made public for the first time as part of an RTÉ podcast series.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 22 September 2020. The reporter is David McCullagh.
