Ferris defends decision to greet McCabe killers

THE IRA sanctioned the 1996 Adare post office robbery which led to the murder of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe and in this context, Martin Ferris TD believed it was right for him to meet the garda’s killers on their release from prison.

The Sinn Féin deputy defended his decision, as a member of the Dáil, to greet Pearse McCauley and Kevin Walsh as they left Castlerea prison in Roscommon last week.

And he said his role in blocking the road to prevent journalists and an unmarked garda car from following the men was overstated.

Mr Ferris claimed it was appropriate for him to appear at Castlerea because the shooting of Det McCabe was part of the Troubles. “They were IRA prisoners and they were in prison for IRA activity.

“The lads that were in prison as political prisoners, they were IRA prisoners on the IRA wings and they were qualifying prisoners under the Good Friday agreement,” he said.

Mr Ferris said four years ago the Government came within an hour of releasing the men under the Good Friday Agreement but did not do so.

And he rejected claims a fundraiser being organised next month was a celebration for the men’s release.

Before entering a party leadership meeting in Navan, Co Meath, Mr Ferris said the fundraiser was being put together to clear debts generated by Sinn Féin’s local election campaign in Cork.

Later he told RTÉ’s Drivetime programme the organisation had tried keep McCauley and Walsh’s release low-key.

On the same show, the newly defected Sinn Féin councillor from Wexford, John Dwyer, said it was possible Mr Ferris was “playing to the gallery of Republicanism” but turning up at the gates of the prison.

Mr Ferris said normally when Republican prisoners were released, a couple of hundred people would greet them.

But as the party’s liaison to the prisoners, Sinn Féin decided to send him instead of the traditional group.

“My purpose there that morning was simply to get the lads away from the area and not have any sense of triumphalism outside the gates that would cause more hurt to Mrs McCabe and her family,” he said.