The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, last night expressed surprise at the Colombian verdict, described the sentences as "very severe" and raised the prospect of repatriating the men to serve their time in Ireland.
Speaking in Brussels, Mr Ahern raised the prospect of repatriation if the men exhausted all legal avenues and remained in jail. The Government would make representations to the Colombian government "to see if there is any way we can get some alleviation in relation to the issue". This could include efforts to seek the repatriation of the prisoners.
The Minister acknowledged that none of these issues were "helpful in respect of the evolving peace process". However, he played down the significance of the court decision in terms of what it showed about the level of IRA activity. "The incidents this court case referred to happened some time back," he said. The most recent report of the Independent Monitoring Commission on the level of violence had shown a "dramatic reduction in illegal activity by the IRA". He said that, from the Government's own information, he expected the next IMC report to show IRA activity further reduced and possibly not taking place at all.
"The lower court completely exonerated these men and now this court gives a very severe sentence. The second aspect is the severity of the sentence. It's very severe sentencing."
He had met the families of the "Colombia Three" earlier this week and was particularly conscious of how they would feel about the outcome so close to Christmas.
On to the question of making representations to the Colombian authorities, it been emphasised time and again that the Colombian courts were completely independent of the government, "and we have to accept that".