McArdle was the Ministerial Special Adviser to Sinn Féin Culture Minister Carál Ní Chuilín and previously an IRA member, convicted of murder in 1984.
[1] Two male members of the IRA approached Resident Magistrate Tom Travers, his wife, and daughter, Mary, as they left Mass.
They also tried to claim that the bullet which killed the young schoolteacher had passed through her father's body first but a post mortem found she was shot directly in the spine.
"[2]McArdle, then aged 19, was arrested shortly after the attack and charged "after two hand guns, a grey wig and a black sock concealed in bandages were found strapped to her thighs.
Haughey was acquitted due to lack of forensic evidence and doubts over his identity, though Tom Travers positively identified him in a line-up.