7 October 2004 Edition

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Castlerea prisoners to seek release in High Court

Two of the four remaining republican prisoners convicted of the manslaughter of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe have been granted leave to bring High Court proceedings against the Dublin Government for the refusal to release them under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

Pearse McCauley and Jeremiah Sheehy, currently held in Castlerea Prison, were told on Monday that they could go ahead with their case under the European Convention on Human Rights, which was incorporated into Irish law earlier this year. Justice de Valera told the men's barrister, Patrick Gageby SC, that he had established an arguable case for allowing his clients to bring judicial review proceedings seeking their release.

Both men were arrested in 1996, along with Michael O'Neill and Kevin Walsh (still in Castlerea), and John Quinn (released last year on completion of his sentence), in connection with an attempted post office robbery in Adare, during which McCabe was killed.

Members of the Dublin Government, including Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, are on record as saying the men will not be released before the end of their sentences, and have continuously peddled the myth that the IRA was on cessation at the time of the robbery. The first IRA cessation ended in February 1996 and the second was called in July 1997. The Adare robbery occurred on 7 June 1996.

All other republicans convicted before the Special 'Criminal' Court of offences in connection with the IRA have been released under the Agreement.

The core of the men's argument is that the failure to release them breaches a number of provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003, including their right not to be discriminated against, to equal treatment and to an effective legal remedy.

Gageby said the men would argue that the Act supports the case that even discretionary decisions regarding whether prisoners should be freed on parole or remain in jail are capable of being judicially reviewed.

• Their case will be heard on 12 October.


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