Inmates moved from UK freed by loophole

Ten prisoners transferred to Irish prisons after receiving lengthy sentences in the UK have had to be freed because of a loophole in the law.

Mon, 04 May, 2015 - 01:00

Caroline O’Doherty

The 10, including a convicted drug smuggler and three men found guilty of plotting a bombing campaign in Britain, were released from Irish jails last year.

All applications for prisoner transfers from the UK are now understood to be on hold and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald is preparing to go to the Supreme Court to try to clarify the law amid concerns that other inmates will have to be freed.

The problem arose after a transferred prisoner challenged his imprisonment here on the grounds that there were significant differences between Irish and UK sentencing policies that invalidated his detention warrant.

In the UK, prisoners have the right to release on licence after they have served two thirds of their sentence — and in some cases only half — but here, the entitlement applies after three quarters of a sentence is served.

Sligoman Vincent Sweeney was jailed in the UK in 2006 for smuggling €3m worth of heroin and cannabis into England. He secured a transfer to Ireland in 2008 under the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Acts.

However, he argued he should be entitled to the early release due to him under the English regime so the warrant detaining him in prison here was defective. He lost a High Court challenge on this point but won on appeal to the Supreme Court last July, following which his immediate and unconditional release was ordered.

Three other men, Fintan O’Farrell, Declan Rafferty, and Michael McDonald, all from Co Louth, were convicted in 2002 of trying to buy weapons and explosions for an intended Real IRA bombing campaign in the UK. They secured transfer to Ireland in 2006.

Following the Sweeney ruling, they challenged their continued detention and the High Court ordered their immediate release from Portlaoise Prison last December.

In a report to the Oireachtas by Ms Fitzgerald on the operation of the act, she has revealed a further six unnamed prisoners transferred from the UK have also been released on the same grounds and indicates more could follow.

“My department is seeking legal advice on the possible impact on other applications,” said Ms Fitzgerald.

The department added in a statement yesterday: “The department has been considering the implications of the Fintan O’Farrell, Michael McDonald, Declan Rafferty v Governor Portlaoise Prison judgment for future cases of prisoner management, including whether any changes to the current legislation may be necessary.”

Ms Fitzgerald’s report reveals that no prisoners were transferred into Ireland from any other country during 2014.

Fresh transfer applications were received from 24 prisoners, 13 of them in the UK, making a total of 30 applications under consideration at the end of the year.