The former governor of Mountjoy Prison has said the release of Malcolm MacArthur is “a positive step” and said it may have happened sooner were it not for political pressure.

The country’s most infamous prisoner, Malcolm MacArthur, is a free man after serving 30 years for the violent murder of a nurse in Phoenix Park.

All thoughts are with the Gargan and Dunne families as the moment they had long feared has come to pass.

THE sole witness to one of Ireland’s most notorious murders has broken a 30-year silence to reveal his attempts to save the life of nurse Bridie Gargan, who was beaten to death in Dublin’s Phoenix Park by Malcolm MacArthur.

JUST two years old, Silver Beach is unexpectedly up for sale: it was its owners’ dream project.

THE shock, outrage and deep anger that greeted Mr Justice Seán Ryan and the Child Abuse Commission’s (CAC) report was natural and absolutely justified.

GENERATIONS of children who suffered savage abuse at the hands of religious orders were also failed by the Department of Education, which ignored its own regulations and kowtowed to the Church. The Commission into Child Abuse Report found various arms of the state failed children in industrial schools.

CRUELTY of the scale, intensity and impact revealed to the Child Abuse Commission is almost impossible to encapsulate, but one man epitomises the system that savaged the childhoods of thousands of innocents.

Notorious killer Malcolm MacArthur will be let out of jail for a few hours tomorrow to celebrate Christmas with friends.

FAMILIES of murder and manslaughter victims will be given explanations in future if the Director of Public Prosecutions decides not to press charges against suspects in the case.

VICTIMS of crime baffled by decisions from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) are being invited to tell him how he can be more open about the way his office operates.

THE decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to consider reversing the controversial policy of refusing to explain his decisions should be warmly welcomed.

LAST Sunday, as the media had wall-to-wall coverage of Joe O’Reilly’s conviction for the murder of his wife, the 25th anniversary of one of the most notorious murders in Irish history went unnoticed.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell insisted there was no deal between the State and Malcolm MacArthur’s legal team to prevent MacArthur being tried for the murder of Offaly farmer Donal Dunne in 1982.

One of the state’s longest-serving and most notorious prisoners is expected to make a High Court bid for his release tomorrow.

A HIGH Court challenge by convicted murderer Malcolm MacArthur to his continuing imprisonment will be responded to by the State within three weeks with a file, the High Court was told yesterday.

HIS dramatic arrest sparked the phrase that is forever associated with Charles Haughey.

CLOSE to 100 Irish people on a mission slipped into Bangalore over the weekend unnoticed; easy to do in India with a population of close to one billion.

FILES on teachers who abused pupils but were not reported to the gardaí may still be held in Catholic diocesan offices, a survivor’s representative has claimed.

THE Government’s decision to reject the recommended release of murderer Malcolm MacArthur was criticised yesterday by a human rights group.

Harry McGee says Director of Public Prosecutions James Hamilton may be trapped by policy of silence.

SINCE it was established in 1974, the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has been embroiled in many controversies, mainly when a decision is taken not to prosecute or when the prosecution goes wrong, as it did in yesterday’s Curtin case.

A KILKENNY-BASED engineering firm has won a €500,000 contract to supply a unique cabling system to a Swiss pharmaceutical company.

TRANSFERRING killer Malcolm MacArthur to an open prison would be illogical unless other elements of the pre-release programme are put in place, according to a prison reform group.

THE Government is to seek legal advise from the Attorney General on whether the Justice Minister can pass the decision on the future of convicted killer Malcolm Macarthur to a Cabinet colleague.

MALCOLM Macarthur is back in the news with the report that the Parole Board has recommended that he be moved to an open prison pending his release, as the board feels that he is no danger to society.

THE political time bomb now ticking away for one Cabinet minister is whether or not to release convicted murderer Malcolm McArthur.

The prison service is reportedly preparing to release one of Ireland’s most notorious murderers.