| Subject: Bias Hacks? |
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Date Posted: 20:18:11 08/13/02 Tue
Ireland on Sunday - (Dublin) 14 July 2002
>
>
>FURY GREETED the revelation last night that convicted
>garda killer Kevin Walsh has again been granted
>temporary release from jail... to participate in IRA
>meetings and Sinn Féin commemorations of the 1916
>Easter Rising.
>
>In October 2000, gang member and Brixton Prison
>escapee Pearse McCauley (37) was allowed out - to
>visit his sick father - but was found drinking after
>hours in a Donegal pub when it was raided by local
>gardaí.
>KEVIN WALSH: Did not go home once in his four days of
>freedom.
>
>The seasoned terrorist, who is serving a 14-year
>sentence for his involvement in shooting dead Det.
>Garda Jerry McCabe in 1996, was released on so-called
>'compassionate grounds' when none of his family
>members were ill.It was the second time in the space
>of just six months that Walsh has been granted
>temporary release for supposedly compassionate
>reasons. On both occasions, he has used his time
>outside prison to meet fellow Provos.And on neither
>occasion was Det. Garda McCabe's widow Ann informed.
>
>Four of those convicted in connection with the killing
>have now been granted a temporary pass at one time or
>another. Another member of the IRA gang, John Quinn,
>was let out for a spell in April.Incredibly, the
>'compassionate' grounds that secured the release of
>Quinn - serving a six-year sentence for intent to
>commit a robbery - were his attendance at the
>confirmation of a young relative.In November of last
>year, Walsh, the most senior IRA figure in Munster and
>the chief of the remaining prisoners behind bars, used
>his time outside jail, also granted on compassionate
>grounds, to meet fellow terrorists.
>
>The 43-year-old did not return once during his four
>days of freedom to his home town of Patrickswell, Co.
>Limerick.In October 2000, gang member and Brixton
>Prison escapee Pearse McCauley (37) was allowed out -
>to visit his sick father - but was found drinking
>after hours in a Donegal pub when it was raided by
>local gardaí.And in December of that year, fellow gang
>member Jeremiah Sheehy was also freed to visit a sick
>relative but instead spent the night with a woman not
>20 miles from where Det. Garda McCabe was shot
>dead.For the family of the dead garda, the continued
>granting of temporary releases to the gang members is
>just the latest in a long line of blows delivered by
>the Government.
>
>Mrs McCabe told Ireland on Sunday: 'Compassionate
>grounds are not the same as meetings of the IRA. I
>don't see how that can be a good reason for the
>release of Kevin Walsh above any of them.'As far as
>I'm concerned, compassionate grounds should mean
>either the death of a relative or a very serious
>illness. That would be the way I look at it.'I try my
>best not to think of these people, what they did and
>how they're treated now. But it's hard, they always
>come back into my mind.'This does not help at all. I
>just hope that the new [Justice] Minister [Michael
>McDowell] will put a stop to this. He has at least
>said that they will not be released altogether.'
>
>Garda Representative Association spokesman Paul Brown
>said: 'We will never forget what happened the day that
>Jerry was shot and the Government shouldn't
>either.'There is no need for this man to be out any
>weekend unless something comes up where there was
>serious compassionate grounds. We would be humane
>individuals but there seems no good reason for
>this.'We have made our position very clear to the
>former minister, John O'Donoghue, and will do so again
>with Minister McDowell. As far as we're concerned,
>AnnMcCabe and her family are the all-important issue
>to us. We do not want them to meet Kevin Walsh out and
>about on a weekend.'The trauma of that would be
>absolutely unbelievable. That's our position and that
>has always been in our position. The morale of the
>Garda Síochána is also top priority. It would plummet
>very quickly if this continues to be the case.'
>
>A spokesman for the Prison Services said: 'We can't
>comment on individual prisoners for security
>reasons.'Det. Garda McCabe, 52, a father of five, was
>gunned down during a botched robbery in Adare, Co.
>Limerick, in June 1996.Sinn Féin has consistently
>called for the release of the men under the terms of
>the Good Friday Agreement but successive
>administrations have refused to countenance this
>idea.The group also endure the cushiest prison regime
>in Ireland. They are housed at low-security Castlerea
>Prison in Roscommon, where they live in a private
>chalet.
>
>At one stage, the men had access to a private phone
>and on other occasions they ordered takeaway meals,
>which had to be hand-delivered by prison officers.In
>2000, the situation came to a head when a warder was
>taken hostage by the men in their chalet. A subsequent
>search turned up home-brew, passports, cash, a replica
>gun and paramilitary uniforms.The men were transferred
>to high-security Portlaoise Prison, where all other
>terrorist inmates are housed, but they were later
>returned to Castlerea on condition that there were no
>more takeaway meals, drinking, and no escape
>attempts.Kevin Walsh is considered by the Government
>to be a linchpin in avoiding splits within the
>IRA.This, Government sources say, excuses the repeated
>temporary releases offered to him to attend what are
>effectively illegal meetings of an organisation that
>is still proscribed by law.
(Dublin)
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