Alleged IRA man found guilty of raping two teenage boys

The man had pleaded not guilty to rape and sexual assault in Co Louth in the early 1990s and in 2001.

The court heard the boys lived in a large house owned by a “dedicated republican” which was a “safe house”.

The first victim said the accused first came to stay around 1991 or 1992, that he became part of the family and that he looked up to him as a “big brother figure”.

However, he said that the accused began to sexually abuse him when he was 13 or 14-years-old.

He rejected defence claims that he had been in a relationship with the accused and had engaged in consensual sexual activity on the night in 2001. He was in his 20s by this time and says he was raped.

The second complainant said on the night he turned 17 he was sexually abused by the accused on a camping trip and later at the house.

When he tried to leave the room the accused stopped him and warned him if he told anyone he would be “found on a border road”.

He said that when it came to “that organisation” there was no way to take that other than a threat.

The accused said he stayed at the house about “half a dozen” times in the early 1990s while working in a casual job.

However, he denied sexually abusing the boys and agreed with prosecuting counsel that he was “the victim of a series of unfortunate lies”.

The court also heard that gardaí had no intelligence the accused was in the IRA.

Sex offenders in the Republic of Ireland are not named in court in order to protect the identity of their victims.