Warrants have been granted in the High Court authorising the transfer of seven men, convicted of charges in connection with explosives, from English prisons to Portlaoise.
Mr Tom O'Connell, counsel for the Minister for Justice, told Mr Justice O'Sullivan that transfer applications had been made by five men, each of whom had been imprisoned for 35 years for conspiring to plant 37 bombs at electricity substations around London in an attempt to disrupt the British capital's power supply.
The transfers of John Crowley, Donal Gannon, Robert Morrow, Gerard Hanratty and Francis Rafferty, all Irish citizens, have been agreed by the Irish and British governments. Transfer warrants were also issued in respect of Peter Sher ry, who received a life sentence for having conspired to cause explosions at hotels and guest houses in London, and Liam O Duibhir, who had been jailed for 30 years in relation to an arms and explosives cache on the Welsh coast. Mr O'Connell said the men had indicated they would not appeal any of the convictions or sentences and agreed to the transfers. All the documentation was in order.