A former IRA bomber who was caught with a false passport has been given a three-year suspended sentence at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court today, and ordered to complete 240 hours of community service.
Donal Gannon, 59, of Shelton Drive, Drimnagh, Dublin was caught trying to renew the passport which was in the name of a man who died in 1986.
Gannon was convicted in London in July 1997 of conspiracy to cause explosions and sentenced to 35 years' imprisonment.
He was subsequently released three years later under the Good Friday Agreement and the court heard that he is "a full supporter of the peace process".
Gannon told the gardaí that he falsely obtained the passport because he wanted to climb a mountain in the US and did not believe he would be admitted entry with his own passport.
A detective garda Padraig Hanley said he did not find this explanation "plausible".
The passport was in the name of a man who was killed in a road traffic accident in 1986. It had been in operation for ten years between 2006 and 2016 and was described as being a valid passport that was falsely obtained.
The court heard there was no record of it having ever been used at an airport.
Gannon has nine previous convictions, including the conviction for conspiracy to cause explosions. He has also been convicted of assaulting a garda and attempted burglary.
Judge Melanie Greally said today that since being released from custody Gannon has led "what can only be described as an exemplary life".
Judge Greally ordered that Gannon complete 240 hours of community service within 18 months in lieu of three years imprisonment for the offence of providing false documents in connection with a passport application.
She also sentenced Gannon to three years' imprisonment for the offence of using a false instrument, but suspended the entirety of the sentence on strict conditions.
Gannon was one of six men arrested in London in 1996 as part of an IRA plot to blow up a number of electricity sub-stations in England.
The gang aimed to cripple the power supply in the southeast of the country. In 1997 the men were sentenced to a total of 210 years, 35 years each.
