Co Armagh man Padraig ‘Paudie’ Treanor appeared in court in Monaghan last week charged with possessing an assault rifle and ammunition.

Co Armagh man Padraig ‘Paudie’ Treanor — who was employed by Sinn Fein to work as a driver for the Newry and Armagh MP until late 2007 — appeared in court in Monaghan last week charged with possessing an assault rifle and ammunition.Former driver for Sinn Fein minister Conor Murphy is at the centre of a legal row in the Republic after being charged with possessing a deadly AK-47 rifle.Treanor (31) was one of a pool of drivers employed by the Sinn Fein to drive senior members but since leaving the party’s employment he has worked as a tyre-repairer in Cullaville, south Armagh.
He is accused of having the weapon in Castleblayney, Co Monaghan on November 28, 2007.The legal row erupted when a district judge lambasted a suggestion by the director of public prosecutions that Treanor be tried in his court on the charge of possessing the AK-47.Mr Justice Sean McBride declared it “outrageous” that the DPP recommended to Gardai that Treanor should be tried before a district court and directed the case be brought before a higher court.The judge said it was “totally unacceptable”, given the current climate of gun crime in Dublin and elsewhere, that such a case did not merit trial before a circuit criminal court or at special criminal court level.The judge’s comments came after Garda Inspector Fintan |McKeirnan told the hearing the DPP had recommended the prosecution be heard in the district court.A solicitor for Treanor said the weapon in question might have been only a replica, but this was dismissed by Justice McBride as immaterial in light of the seriousness of the charge.Mr Justice McBride then directed gardai to relay his directions to the DPP and remanded Treanor on bail until a further hearing on January 14.It is unclear when Treanor was arrested and charged with the offence. But it is understood he was arrested by Gardai investigating the murder of Cullyhanna truck driver Paul Quinn.Mr Quinn was savagely beaten to death by a gang who lured him to a cow shed in Castleblayney in October last year.His family has blamed IRA members in south Armagh for the murder.Fourteen arrests have been made as part of the cross-border investigation into the case, but no one has been brought before the courts.