Dowdall was serving an eight-year sentence for offences including false imprisonment when he was charged with the murder.

Mary Lou McDonald said former Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan Dowdall was never a friend of hers.

Earlier, the Regency Hotel murder trial heard that gardaí had recovered records from a tracker device deployed on Dowdall's jeep which were believed to have been destroyed

Ms McDonald denied that Dowdall’s association with the party has been damaging.

The five-judge Supreme Court has cleared the way for the trials to proceed before the non-jury court