Posthumous pardon for two Kerry men wrongfully convicted of murder in 1882

Sylvester Poff and James Barrett were hanged for the murder of Thomas Browne, but it is now believed the conviction did not meet the standards required 

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has recommended the pardon on foot of a report on the murders. File Picture.

The Government is to recommend that President Michael D Higgins give a posthumous presidential pardon to cousins Sylvester Poff and James Barrett, two men wrongfully convicted of the murder of a Co Kerry landlord following Mr Poff’s eviction in 1882.

Both men were arrested and hanged for the murder of landlord Thomas Browne the following January.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee has recommended the pardon on foot of a report on the matter by Dr Niamh Howlin.

It’s now believed that the conviction in question was unsafe, given key witness testimony by the widow of Mr Browne was changed prior to the two men’s trial, while the jury in the trial was understood to have been packed with jurors aligned with the prosecution’s case. Evidence has since emerged that the murder, committed in broad daylight, had had nothing to do with Mr Poff’s eviction.

A soldier based at The Curragh had declared his own guilt for the murder in the aftermath of the killing, however that claim had never been investigated.

“This is a very rare occurrence and a very high bar must be reached for the Government to recommend to the president that he exercise this right,” Minister McEntee said.

“Having considered the findings in Dr Howlin’s report, the trial, conviction and execution of Mr Poff and Mr Barrett were unfair by the standards of the time,” she said.

RTÉ funding

Media Minister Catherine Martin.

A decision will not be made on a future funding model for RTÉ before the local elections in seven weeks, but one is expected “before July” and the Dáil’s summer recess.

Speaking in the wake of Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, a Government spokesperson confirmed that a decision as to whether RTÉ is to be directly funded from the Exchequer is not expected to be made before the local and European elections on June 7.

There is no clear date in sight, however, for the delivery of two key Government reports into the governance and culture at the State broadcaster.

Both reports had been due for delivery to Media Minister Catherine Martin by February, but they remain in a “fact-checking” process, the spokesperson said.

European peace facility

Meanwhile, Tánaiste Micheál Martin has gotten Cabinet approval for the commitment of €128m to the European peace facility.

An additional €5bn was agreed at the EU Foreign Affairs Council in March as a top-up for the fund, which is earmarked for the provision of “sustainable support” to Ukraine in the years to come, with no end to the Russian conflict in sight.

The new funding will bring Ireland’s total commitment to the facility to roughly €400m by 2027, money which has been ringfenced exclusively “for nonlethal military support”.