State solicitor tells court Kevin Lunney case file is ‘half my height’

A State solicitor has said the file into the abduction and false imprisonment of Quinn Industrial Holdings director Kevin Lunney is "half" his height.

Rory Hayden, the State solicitor for Cavan, said that the book of evidence was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on January 31st.

Mr Hayden said the file was the biggest he had seen in 25 years and that while he spent all week reading it, he still had not gone through all of it.

At Harristown District Court in Roscommon, Mr Hayden said he was confident that direction would be forthcoming from the DPP in “the near future”.

“It is a complex investigation, the file is half my height, it’s up to my waist,” he said.

Three of the four men charged with the abduction and false imprisonment of Mr Lunney appeared before Harristown District Court on Friday morning.

Darren Redmond (25), from Caledon Road, East Wall, Dublin and Alan O’Brien (38), of Shelmalier Road, East Wall, refused consent to be remanded in custody for a month.

A third defendant, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, also refused consent to be remanded for a month. All three were remanded in custody by Judge James Faughnan to appear before the same court on February 21st.

A fourth defendant, Luke O’Reilly (66), from Mullahoran Lower, Kilcogy, Co Cavan, was remanded in custody at a previous sitting to February 14th.

Legal representatives for the men urged that the case be moved forward but Judge Faughnan said it was clear some cases were more complex than others.

A previous court sitting heard that the investigation in two jurisdictions involved over 1,000 lines of inquiry, 400 statements and extensive CCTV footage and phone records.

Mt Hayden said the case was “moving along” as quickly as possible and the investigation was “a mammoth task”, but he was confident that direction would be forthcoming soon.