Five members of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP), Osgur Breatnach, Nicky Kelly, Brian McNally, Mick Plunkett and John Fitzpatrick, were arrested in connection with the robbery.
During interrogation in Garda Síochána custody, all except Plunkett signed alleged confessions, presenting with extensive bruising and injuries they claimed were inflicted by members of the Gardaí.
The trial of McNally, Kelly and Breatnach in the Special Criminal Court became the longest-running trial in Irish criminal history, at 65 days, before it collapsed due to the death of one of the three judges, Judge John O'Connor of the Circuit Court.
Instead he was incarcerated in the maximum-security Portlaoise Prison and spent the next four years proclaiming his innocence, including a 38-day period on hunger strike.
[3] After a campaign by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Amnesty International and others (including a song, "Wicklow Boy", by the popular folk singer Christy Moore), Kelly was eventually released on "humanitarian grounds" in 1984.