The government will be in breach of the Belfast Agreement if it does not release the killers of Det Garda Gerry McCabe, the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, said yesterday.
Mr Adams also suggested that his party was considering legal action to have Garda McCabe's killers released.
As Mr Adams was speaking in Co Cork the Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, announced the appointment of a senior garda to investigate allegations of intimidation of witnesses in the McCabe case.
Three witnesses crucial to the prosecution case decided against giving evidence on behalf of the State. A key witness, Mr Patrick Harty, went to prison rather than give evidence, and his solicitor told the Special Criminal Court that he was in fear of his life.
Senior gardai believe the IRA in Munster, whose members were on trial for the capital murder of Det Garda McCabe, carried out the intimidation. The investigation will be carried out by Supt Kieran McGann, from Fermoy, Co Cork.
The Dail will debate today the issues raised by the trial, in which the State withdrew murder charges and accepted pleas of guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter after witnesses with drew.
The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, faces questions from opposition TDs about the State's conduct of the case.
Mr Adams was in Co Cork yesterday for the launch of the Sinn Fein European and local election campaign when he said Garda McCabe's killers should be released under the Belfast Agreement.
He said he did not wish to add to the trauma of the McCabe family but, if asked the question, "Should there be an early release?", he would have to answer "Yes."
Mr Adams said he had made this view known to the Taoiseach, who disagreed with him on the matter.
Mr Ahern had said publicly that Garda McCabe's killers should not be released under the Belfast Agreement and that they should serve their full sentences.
Mr Adams confirmed that he raised the issue with the Taoiseach on Good Friday when the Belfast Agreement was signed.
Sinn Fein, he went on, was conscious of the sensitivities involved but was adamant nevertheless that those imprisoned because of the killing should be released in due course under the agreement.
Not to do so would constitute a breach of the agreement, Mr Adams said.
Mr Adams denied that after the killing of Det Garda McCabe in 1996 he or Mr Martin McGuinness - Sinn Fein's two most senior personnel - had met one of the men subsequently convicted of the killing.
According to the Sunday Times last Sunday, such a meeting did take place in Co Cavan. But Mr Adams was categorical in his denial and also said he was not aware of the Sunday Times story.
Mr Adams dismissed the latest polls published in Belfast on decommissioning, which suggest that a majority of people in the North wanted it to happen, and said that polls could show anything depending on the way a question was asked.
He was asked if the intervention of Senator George Mitchell, who brokered the Belfast Agreement, would be useful now, given the impasse over decommissioning.
He replied that he had asked the Senator some months ago to return to Northern Ireland to deal specifically with this issue, but he had been reluctant to do so. He added: "But if he did, he would have the confidence of most of the people."