The European Court of Human Rights has refused a request by Ireland to refer the case of the 'Hooded Men' to the court's Grand Chamber.

The 14 hooded men were among 350 people who were arrested and interned without trial in 1971, at the start of the Troubles in the North.

They alleged they had been tortured at a British Army camp in Derry where they were deprived of sleep, food and water.

Ireland had taken the UK to the ECHR over the case, suggesting new evidence had emerged that the treatment of the men constituted torture.

In March, the court rejected the Irish request to revise a 1978 judgment and find that men detained suffered torture, not just inhuman and degrading treatment.

The court found that the Government had not demonstrated the existence of new facts that were unknown to the Court in 1978 or which would have had a decisive influence on the original judgment.

In a decision this afternoon, the ECHR said the request to appeal the previous decision had been rejected by a panel of five judges.

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Tánaiste Simon Coveney said nothing in today's decision changes the original judgement that the victims in the case suffered inhuman and degrading treatment.

He said: "I recognise that the outcome on the revision application will be deeply disappointing for the men who were the victims of that treatment and who have had to deal with the long-lasting effects.

"Their long campaign is one of dignity, of compassion and of an inextinguishable belief in the universality of human rights, enduring through the deepest of suffering and the darkest of events.

"I have directed my Department to meet with the men and their legal representatives to brief them in full on the outcome of the proceedings taken by Ireland at the European Court of Human Rights in the Ireland v UK case."

Darragh Mackin, a solicitor for several of the Hooded Men, said their campaign will continue.

He noted: "They now eagerly await the judgment by the Court of Appeal in Belfast in which the Chief Constable of the PSNI appealed a decision that requires the identification and prosecution of those individuals whom perpetrated and authorised the techniques are held accountable.”

Francis McGuigan, one of the Hooded Men, said today marked a setback - but stressed it wasn't the end of their campaign.

He observed: "It is disappointing that the European Court missed an opportunity to correct such an unjust ruling, however we now eagerly await the Court of Appeals decision, and seeing those responsible held accountable."