Former INLA leader Dessie O'Hare has been returned to the maximum security Portlaoise Prison after a breach of his release conditions.
O'Hare, who was known the "Border Fox", had returned to Castlerea Prison, Co Roscommon, after a period of release ended but was found to have a mobile telephone and pills, in contravention of his release conditions.
He was being released for short periods in preparation for his eventual release.
A prison service spokesman said O'Hare was transferred from Castlerea Prison this morning to Portlaoise. "He had been out on temporary release and when he returned yesterday he was searched by staff and found to be in possession of contraband."
O'Hare is in the 18th year of a 40-year sentence, handed down in 1988 for the kidnapping of Dublin dentist Mr John O'Grady. He was transferred from Portlaoise Prison to Castlerea three years ago.
He gained public notoriety when he kidnapped the dentist Dr John O'Grady in October 1987 and chopped off the tops of two of his fingers.
Dr O'Grady (then 40) was kidnapped from his home on Brennanstown Road, Cabinteely, Co Dublin, after four masked men entered his home on the evening of October 13th. The gang, led by O'Hare first took him to a basement in Parkgate Street, Dublin.
Gardaí believed O'Hare was acting on out-of-date information and had intended to kidnap Dr O'Grady's father-in-law, Prof Austin Darragh, who had once lived in that house and was a wealthy businessman.
The month-long search for O'Hare and his gang took gardaí all over the State and culminated in a shoot-out in Urlingford, Co Kilkenny, on November 27th, when O'Hare's companion was shot dead as O'Hare tried to crash through a joint Garda/Army checkpoint in a stolen BMW.