Early release option defended

The Government has no option but to release the killers of Det Garda Jerry McCabe if power-sharing is to be restored in the North, the Taoiseach has said.

His comments came on the same day that the widow of Det Garda McCabe, Mrs Ann McCabe, said that the killers should not qualify under the terms of the Belfast Agreement because they were "common criminals".

Mr Ahern told the Dáil that Sinn Féin had made it clear in recent negotiations that without the men's release there would be no deal.

"If we do not deal with those charged with manslaughter whom we believe to be involved in the killing of Jerry McCabe, regardless of what the cases are, and the shooting of Ben O'Sullivan, and if it arises that there is a comprehensive deal, that issue must be dealt with. Otherwise there will be no deal. That has been made clear in the negotiations. It does not arise if we do not get a comprehensive deal."

Mr Ahern was criticised on Wednesday after he mooted, in the Dáil, the release of the men before he had consulted Mrs McCabe or the Garda Representative Association. He said yesterday that he had made his comments because he was obliged to respond to questions in the House. It had always been, and remained, the Government's intention to speak to the McCabe family and the GRA before any deal was signed.

"I understand that Mrs McCabe and the families will be annoyed with me. However, if I want to get a comprehensive deal, I do not have an alternative. It is only on the basis of arms being put beyond use and new instructions from the IRA that I will contemplate consulting Mrs McCabe."

It was an issue he would prefer not to deal with, but an issue which existed nonetheless. The widows of RUC men killed during the Troubles had in recent years seen their husbands' killers going free early. In some cases, they had been killed by men who did not have "any semblance of being freedom-fighters".

Mrs McCabe reiterated her opposition to the early release of the men jailed in connection with the killing of her husband during the attempted robbery of an SDS cash van in Adare, Co Limerick. "We were supposed to be told [ about any possible release], but we weren't told. And I was totally devastated when I heard this."

Reading a letter on RTÉ Radio 1 from the former minister for justice, Mr John O'Donoghue, in 1999, she said it stated: "I hope that the meeting provided you with assurance that there is no question of granting early release to those concerned, either under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement or, for that matter, on any other basis either."

Asked if the latest development was a "slap in the face" for the GRA, she said: "Oh it is, absolutely. They're devastated by it and they have been a great support to me. But who is running the Government? Sinn Féin and the IRA or Bertie Ahern? It looks as if I'm stalling the peace process. I don't want to go down in history as stalling the peace process. They committed a criminal act, the most heinous crime anyone could commit."

A brother-in-law of the late detective, Mr Pat Carney, said: "We had complete faith in the Government in what they told us verbally and in writing. It would be a complete blow to the morale of the Garda if this happens. We trusted Bertie Ahern, we trusted his Government, and we trusted the word that the two ministers for justice gave us."

The GRA's executive member for Limerick, Mr Paul Brown, said he had been in touch with Mrs McCabe in recent days and she had been "very upset". He added: "John O'Donoghue's letter was very clear. I even remember him getting up in the Dáil and saying 'Read my lips, there will be no early release.' When the current negotiations began, the Government should have told Sinn Féin that they would discuss anything apart from the release. That is where the mistake was made."