McCabe Killers: Gardaí seek assurances
Angry gardaí are to demand assurances from justice minister Michael McDowell today that the killers of a detective will not be released early.
The Government has been under fire since the alleged deal to release the killers of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe which emerged as part of an aborted attempt to restart the peace process last October.
Paul Browne, a member of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) and close friend of the McCabe family, said both the association and the relatives were sickened at the prospect.
“The whole secretariat of the GRA was given the absolute same assurances that the killers of Jerry McCabe would not be released,” he said.
“We’ll be looking for the same assurances we were given to be kept.”
The 28-member GRA executive committee, headed by general secretary PJ Stone, president Dermot O’Donnell and Limerick representative Paul Browne, will meet the minister at the Justice Department at 2.30pm.
In February 1999, the Special Criminal Court handed down sentences ranging from 11 to 14 years to the four-man gang who shot dead DG McCabe during an attempted post office robbery in the Limerick village of Adair in June 1996.
On the day of the sentencing, Mr Ahern said the men would not get early release under the Good Friday Agreement.
Sinn Féin has continued to call for their release under the terms of the agreement.
The GRA said DG McCabe’s widow, Anne, received a letter in 2000 from then Justice Minister John O’Donoghue reiterating the Government’s stance.
A GRA spokesman said: “We’ll be asking about the commitment given by then Justice Minister John O’Donoghue in the letter to Anne McCabe.
“The delegation will point out to Minister McDowell and his cohorts the pain caused to Anne McCabe and the double dealing that went on behind everyone’s back.
“As politicians go about this one-upmanship it’s sad to see Anne McCabe and her family being used as political footballs in the run up to the local elections,” he added.
The executive committee of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) is holding its monthly meeting this afternoon.
An AGSI representative said over the next two days members will be discussing the Government’s stance over the four men, currently held in Castlerea Prison.
The group said they would probably also be seeking for an explanation from Minister McDowell.
The McCabe family broke its silence in a statement released in advance of today’s meeting.
It said it trusted the pledges made by the Government that the IRA killers of DG McCabe would not be considered for early release.
“The undertakings given by Government were sealed with the lifeblood of a guardian of the law cruelly slain in the performance of his duties on behalf of the civil power,” it said.
“The solemn undertaking given by most senior figures in Government was the sole consolation for the pain, anguish and bottomless sense of loss which has been constantly revisited on the McCabe family by the repeated resurrection of the murder in Adare of a husband, father and guardian of the law.”
