McCabe killers ‘would have been freed under October agreement’

The Department of Justice has refused to confirm or deny reports that the IRA killers of Garda Jerry McCabe were to be released from prison under the aborted peace deal that was supposed to restart the peace process last October.

The deal, which involved a choreographed series of announcements by the various parties to the peace process, collapsed when the UUP refused to accept the decommissioning body's statement on IRA disarmament.

Reports today claimed that, had the deal gone ahead, the four IRA men convicted in connection with the killing of Garda McCabe would have been freed early.

Garda McCabe was shot dead during a botched raid on a postal van in Adare, Co Limerick in June 1996.

Four men are currently serving prison sentences ranging from 11 to 14 years in connection with the killing, but Sinn Féin has been continuously pressing for their early release under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

The UUP said today that it knew nothing about any plans to release the four men as part of last October’s agreement.

Fine Gael TD Jim O’Keefe, meanwhile, called on Justice Minister Michael McDowell to make a statement about the matter, which he said would be raised in the Dáil by Fine Gael.