Ahern says sorry to Keegans

JUSTICE Minister Dermot Ahern has apologised on behalf of the state to the family of Noel Keegan, who died after being assaulted by a man wrongfully released from prison.

Martin McDonagh should have been serving a four-year sentence when he assaulted Mr Keegan and his wife Marie in Longford on December 31 last year. Mr Keegan, 58, a father-of-five, had a heart condition and died afterwards.

A report by Judge Michael Reilly found that McDonagh, 24, from Edgeworthstown, Co Longford, had been wrongfully freed from jail due to a “litany of flawed systems” in the courts, prisons, gardaí and probation.