The Special Criminal Court has heard that the alleged leader of the Real IRA, Michael McKevitt, was planning to set up a new terrorist organisation comprised of dissident Republicans.
The court heard that McKevitt was waiting for the Provisional IRA to declare decommissioning as a signal for him to wage his campaign. The court heard that the new organisation was to be called Oglaigh na hEireann.
McKevitt, the court heard, had a preference for attacks outside Ireland, on those who took their seats in Stormont and the Security Forces in the North, while members of the Gardaí were to be off limits.
The 53-year-old from Beech Park, Blackrock in Dundalk, pleaded not guilty today to membership of an illegal organisation and directing terrorism.
He is the first man to be charged in the Republic with directing terrorism and was arrested in March 2001 under anti-terrorism legislation brought in after the Omagh bombing in August 1998.
Twenty-nine people died in the attack but nobody has ever been charged with the murders.
In his opening statement for the prosecution, George Birmingham SC said that the main prosecution witness, David Rupert, was not a supergrass but a paid employee of the British Security Services and the FBI.
Mr Birmongham said Mr Rupert had over 20 meetings with McKevitt, who asked him to source material in the US - specifically a marine magnet which was used in the Al Queda attack on the USS Cole in Yemen.
David Rupert is due to testify on Monday.
The landmark trial is expected to last up to six weeks and if convicted, McKevitt could face life imprisonment.
