Court of Appeal to hear former prison officer’s case

Seán O’Brien was shot at while trying to stop a prisoner escaping from jail nearly 40 years ago

Mr O’Brien joined the Irish Prison Service in 1980, and his life was irrevocably altered on May 18, 1988, at Portlaoise Prison during the attempted escape of Provisional IRA prisoner Patrick McVeigh. File picture

The Court of Appeal will hear a crucial legal challenge on Friday brought by former prison officer Seán O’Brien, who was shot at while trying to stop a prisoner escaping from jail nearly 40 years ago.

The case against the Defence Forces Tribunal of Inquiry will test legal boundaries of who can take part in the State investigation into military abuse.

The appeal follows a High Court judgement by Ms Justice Miriam O’Regan earlier this year, which dismissed Mr O’Brien’s judicial review on both technical and substantive grounds.

Mr O’Brien joined the Irish Prison Service in 1980, and his life was irrevocably altered on May 18, 1988, at Portlaoise Prison — then Europe’s highest-security prison — during the attempted escape of Provisional IRA prisoner Patrick McVeigh, who was wanted on a UK extradition warrant.

While attempting to stop the escape under orders from a senior officer, Irish army personnel stationed on the roof discharged live ammunition.

Mr O’Brien contends that five subsonic rounds were fired so close to him that hot tar droplets from the ground fused to his shoes and uniform. The incident left him with chronic, disabling post-traumatic stress disorder.

A year after the shooting, in May 1989, the State terminated Mr O’Brien’s employment on the grounds of absenteeism. He was left penniless, without either pay or pension.

Mr O’Brien has spent nearly four decades seeking State accountability, launching civil litigation in 1991 that was plagued by external disruptions — including legal representation by David O’Shea, a solicitor who was subsequently struck off, and the loss of his files — before eventually being struck out for delay in 2022.

Following the establishment of the Defence Forces Tribunal of Inquiry (initially prompted by the ‘Women of Honour’ revelations), Mr O’Brien submitted his witness statement in December 2024.

He sought answers regarding the lack of an internal military investigation into the 1988 shooting and the subsequent alleged suppression of his complaints.

However, the tribunal’s solicitor, John V Nolan, provisionally excluded Mr O’Brien, reconfirming in July 2025 that his case fell outside its terms of reference. The tribunal said that only serving or former members of the Defence Forces, or civil servants/civilian employees of the Department of Defence, are eligible to submit complaints.

Represented by John Gerard Cullen Solicitors, Mr O’Brien cross-appealed this, arguing for a “literal and purposive” interpretation.

Mr O’Brien said that, as a prison officer working directly alongside and under the physical control of military guards patrolling Portlaoise and as a shooting victim of the Defence Forces, he had a sufficient “nexus of interaction” with the Defence Forces to warrant inclusion.

In the High Court, Ms Justice O’Regan upheld the tribunal’s position and ruled Mr O’Brien was out of time to bring his judicial review application and that, on its merits, the tribunal was correct to exclude him because his employment was under the minister for justice, not defence.