Prisoner seeking release under Belfast accord loses his appeal

The Supreme Court has ruled that the Minister for Justice was entitled to refuse to specify a jailed former member of the INLA (who has not been aligned to that or any other paramilitary organisation for years) as a "qualifying prisoner" for release under the terms of the Belfast Agreement.

In a case which could have implications for other challenges by prisoners to the failure to direct their release under the agreement, the five-judge court yesterday held that the Minister was entitled to refuse the specification. This was on the basis that prisoners convicted of crimes not connected with the Northern Ireland situation could not be regarded as "qualifying prisoners".

The court dismissed the appeal by Henry Doherty (50), who is serving an eight-year sentence in Portlaoise Prison for firearms and other offences, against the Minister's refusal to specify him as a "qualifying prisoner". Doherty had sought declarations requiring the Minister to treat him as a "qualifying prisoner" and to refer his case to the Release of Prisoners' Commission.

The case centred on the proper construction of the Criminal Justice (Release of Prisoners) Act, 1998, which was introduced here to give effect to the obligations of the Irish Government regarding the accelerated release of prisoners serving sentences in connection with the Northern Ireland conflict.

In his judgment, the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Keane, said that the 1998 Act did not confer any power of release in favour of prisoners but essentially provided for the establishment of a commission to advise the Minister on exercising his powers of release in relation to those he specified as "qualifying prisoners".

It was for the Minister alone to decide what prisoners were "qualifying prisoners" and whether he should request the commission to advise him on exercising his powers of release. Doherty, because he was not imprisoned for any offences arising out of the Northern Ireland situation, was not entitled under the 1998 Act to be treated as a "qualifying prisoner".

Doherty was convicted both here and in Northern Ireland of a number of serious offences over a period from about 1970 to 1981. He was involved in the establishment of the INLA and the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP).

While serving a six-year sentence imposed in 1981 for a bank robbery, he disassociated himself from the IRSP and INLA and has been unaligned since. He was again jailed in 1995 on firearms and other charges and is due for release next August.