Sudden prison death of dissident republican sparks garda probe

A GARDA investigation has been launched following the sudden death of a dissident republican inside Portlaoise Prison.

John O’Halloran, 35, and from Limerick, was found dead in his cell on the E4 landing of the prison, which houses members of the Continuity IRA.

He was serving a five-year sentence for firearms offences after being convicted earlier this year of taking part in a firearms training camp in August 2003. He was due for release in 2008.

The area around his cell was sealed off yesterday as a garda forensic team carried out an investigation. Foul play has not been ruled out entirely but initial reports suggest he took his own life, probably by hanging.

The Governor of Portlaoise, TJ Walsh, has launched his own investigation following the discovery of the body around 11am yesterday. He was found in a single bed cell on the landing.

A small number of CIRA prisoners are being held in Portlaoise, including O’Halloran’s eight accomplices who were arrested at the training camp in the Comeragh Mountains in Waterford.

They have relative freedom on the landings and are not obliged to leave the area so he may have been dead for some hours before being discovered. It is understood a fellow inmate raised the alarm.

O’Halloran, of Ross Avenue, Mulgrave Street, Limerick, was arrested at the training camp along with eight other people in August 2003.

Gardaí discovered four guns, a makeshift firing range and targets when they raided the camp.

They found four men at a firing point being given instructions by two others and three men armed with shotguns acting as sentries, the Special Criminal Court was told during the trial in February this year.

The nine were sentenced to between four and six years following their convictions.

Mr Justice Richard Johnson, presiding, said given the military nature of the exercise in which all nine participated and items found in follow-up searches which indicated republican leanings, the court was satisfied all nine came together at a well-organised training camp to train in the use of firearms for a subversive or unlawful purpose.

Gardaí observed the men for a number of hours and heard 60 shots being fired, both small arms and automatic rifle. The judge said gardaí found all the constituents of a firing range - firearms, targets and spent cartridges.

Two ringleaders, Derry native Patrick Deery and Waterford man Joseph Mooney, were both sentenced to six years.

O’Halloran was one of the four being instructed and he received a five-year sentence.