Dissident republican suspect Paddy McDaid released on £50,000 bail surety in June last year
BBC News NI reports that Patrick McDaid, (50), of Magowan Park in Derry, made an application to vary his bail terms so he could attend yoga and sea-swim sessions at a Donegal beach.
He was released on bail in June last year after a £50,000 was put as surety to secure his freedom from the top security Maghaberry prison.
It is reported that McDaid’s lawyers made the request at Dungannon Magistrates’ Court to have his electronic tag removed for the visits to Donegal for his mental health.
“This takes place on a Donegal beach and my client will be in shorts. The fear is the tag may bring about negative feelings towards him,” the defence said.
District Judge Michael Ranaghan dismissed McDaid’s claim and said that mental health treatment and support is available in the north, advising the accused to wear a wetsuit if the tag caused embarrassment.
McDaid is among a number of people facing prosecution in relation to covert surveillance recordings of alleged meetings of the New IRA leadership in a joint PSNI and M15 investigation codenamed Operation Arbacia.
Denis McFadden arranged the letting of the houses for the meetings which MI5 operatives fitted with hi-tech video and audio recording equipment.
MI5 agent Denis ‘The Rat’ McFadden
It later emerged that McFadden was working as MI5 agent inside the New IRA’s political wing, Saoradh, for a number of years.
He has now left the North of Ireland and moved to mainland UK under a new identity.
McFadden – dubbed ‘The Rat’ by dissident republicans – will not be called to give evidence at any trial of those charged as part of the ‘Operation Arbacia’ investigation.
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