Solidarity from Castlerea

Tina Tully from Cavan delivered a message to the Ard Fheis on Behalf of the eight republican prisoners being held in Castlerea Prison.

They sent solidarity greetings to our comrades in Sinn Féin and to fellow POWs around the world. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all those candidates and their election teams in last November's Assembly election, it was a tremendous result which consolidated Sinn Féin's position as the largest nationalist party in the Six Counties. We look forward to June's local and EU elections that we believe will further illustrate the growth in support for the republican message. We wish all candidates in these elections the very best of luck.

The prisoners expressed support for the Peace Process and wished the Sinn Féin negotiating team the best in the weeks and months ahead.

The prisoners pointed out that four of the prisoners are known as the Castlerea Four. A fifth man, John Quinn, was released having completed his sentence. "Last year, in a Judicial Review taken by two of the men, the High Court accepted that if the Minister for Justice was to use his discretion of release, the men would be qualifying prisoners under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. However, it found that the Minister for Justice had absolute discretion of release provided it was not capricious, arbitrary or unjust. This ruling was appealed to the Supreme Court and judgement was delivered at the end of last month which supported the High Court decision. Legal proceedings are ongoing but ultimately the decision to release is a political one which must be met."

The prisoners thanked everyone who has worked on the case over the past year and urged republicans to remain engaged in the campaign for the men's release.