An amnesty for prisoners to mark the visit of Pope John Paul II to Ireland in 1979 was put back over fears of a burglary blitz on the country’s empty homes, Government files revealed today.
Previously classified documents, now released into the National Archives, also show the historic1979 trip was nearly scuppered over a lack of preparations by the Government.
Dozens of jail inmates were freed early as part of the three-day celebrations 30 years ago.
In a hand-written memo to then Taoiseach Jack Lynch, one top official warned against the Department of Justice plan overall but was particularly worried about freeing prisoners on September 29th, the first day of the Papal visit.
“It would be risky to give the amnesty on the first day of the visit because of the threat to Dublin’s empty homes,” he cautioned.
The fears were incorporated into a policy memo circulated to all the Government ministers by then Justice Minister Gerry Collins.
It stated “it would be unwise to take the risk” of letting convicts out on a day when houses would be “virtually empty.”
The following day, a Sunday, was also ruled out because it there would be staffing and transport problems.
In the end, some 78 prisoners, deemed unlikely to be dangerous to the public and who were due for release by the end of the year, were freed on October 1st, as the Pope left Ireland.
Around a third of Ireland’s population turned out to see the Pontiff during his visit, including 1.25 million people at Dublin’s Phoenix Park.
Another 300,000 gathered at Drogheda, in the Archdiocese of Armagh, as plans to travel to Northern Ireland were abandoned because of the IRA murders of Lord Mountbatten and 18 British soldiers at Warrenpoint in Co Down.
But according to files released under the 30-year rule, it may not have happened at all because the Vatican was apparently impatient with the Irish government’s lack of plans.
An Irish Embassy official in Rome reported back to Dublin after a meeting with Monsignor Eamon Marron, a top Irish church figure in the Holy See, that there was a danger the visit could be shelved.
“A firm decision on a visit to Ireland is being delayed because ‘not enough work has been done on preparing it’,” he quoted the senior cleric.
“Though the Monsignor is confident the Pope is going to Ireland he referred to the danger, as he saw it, that the Pope would have to make a negative decision because the ‘preparatory work’ had not been done.”
Monsignor Marron stated it was “now up to the Government to take the initiative” as the Pontiff needed a preliminary schedule from the Government before he could agree, according to the files.
Government aides argued the trip was a pastoral one and, as such, should involve little State involvement while some felt there were “elements” in the Vatican trying to heap pressure on the Taoiseach to issue an official invitation.
But according to one memo, Mr Lynch wanted the highest possible State involvement.
The files also reveal Aer Lingus bosses worked with the Irish Embassy in Rome to secure a publicity coup for the airliner in transporting the Pope during his visit.
One progress report on the charm offensive in the Vatican stated the request was referred “upstairs with a strong recommendation”.
PA