'Border Fox' given temporary release

Republican prisoner Dessie O’Hare is out on temporary release from Castlerea Prison, it was confirmed today.

O’Hare, the former leader of the INLA who was known as the "Border Fox", is serving a 40-year sentence for the ransom kidnapping of a Dublin dentist, Dr John O’Grady, during which the tops of two of the man’s fingers were cut off.

A spokesman for the Irish Prison Service said: “He is out for a couple of days from prison on a programme that has been put in place. It is standard prison practice.

“He has had a couple of outings in the past few years, they passed without any incident.”

O’Hare, from Co Armagh, has served over 17-years in prison for the attack and kidnapping during 1987. He was transferred from Portlaoise Prison to Co Roscommon prison in late 2002.

The spokesman for the Prison Service said that O’Hare was only one of around 200 prisoners currently out on temporary release. “He is due back in this weekend,” he said.

O’Hare, who was also released for four-days last Christmas, would be required to report daily to a designated garda station during his release and Castlerea Prison may also have put other restrictions in place.