The second of four IRA men convicted of the killing of Det Garda Jerry McCabe is to be released from prison today.
Jeremiah Sheehy, from Limerick, was jailed for 12 years in early 1999 after pleading guilty at the non-jury Special Criminal Court to the manslaughter of Det Garda McCabe during an attempted robbery outside Adare post office, Co Limerick, in June 1996. He is due for release from Castlerea Prison, Co Roscommon, having been given the standard remission of 25 per cent for good behaviour.
Michael O'Neill, another of the four men convicted of the killing of Det Garda McCabe, was released from Castlerea Prison last May. Mr O'Neill, from Patrickswell, Co Limerick, had served eight years of his 11-year sentence for the manslaughter of Det Garda McCabe.
The other men, Pearse McAuley, originally from Strabane, Co Tyrone, and Kevin Walsh, from Patrickswell, who also pleaded guilty to manslaughter and received 14-year sentences, are expected to be released within the next year.
Repeated attempts to release the men under the terms of the Belfast Agreement encountered fierce resistance from Det Garda McCabe's widow, Ann McCabe, Garda representative bodies and politicians on both the Government and Opposition benches.
In 2006, McAuley and Sheehy lost a High Court bid for early release under the terms of the Belfast Agreement.
In his reserved judgment, Mr Justice Daniel Herbert said he believed it was "wholly legitimate" for the Minister for Justice and the Government to require that the prisoners should serve the sentences imposed on them as punishment for "the unique and shocking nature of the crime".
He also considered that it was a legitimate aim of the Government to wish to ensure that the peace process in Northern Ireland and full implementation of the Belfast Agreement "should not be jeopardised by a widespread loss of public confidence" that "would probably follow" the early release of the men.
