Captain James Kelly, the Irish army intelligence officer who was acquitted in the infamous 1970s Arms Trial, has died of cancer.
Capt Kelly died without an apology from the State after a campaign lasting over 30 years in which he sought to clear his name.
Capt Kelly shot to prominence during the arms trial in which two Government ministers - including Mr Charles Haughey, who would later become taoiseach - were accused of assisting a plan to import arms for the IRA. There were no convictions but Mr Haughey and his Cabinet colleague Mr Neil Blaney were sacked over the affair.
Capt Kelly was among the accused but unlike the other acquitted men, insisted on an apology from the State maintaining he was acting under orders from the minister for defence when he became involved in the plan to bring the arms in through Dublin Airport in April 1970.
He and his family have been campaigning on the issue for years and recently increased pressure on the Minister for Justice to release all relevant documents relating to the arms crisis.
At the start of the year, it emerged that a witness statement by the head of Army intelligence, the late Col Michael Hefferon, had been changed by the Attorney General's office and not by then Minister for Justice Mr Desmond O'Malley.
The statement indicated that then minister for defence, Mr James Gibbons, had prior knowledge of the plan and that Capt Kelly's role was in accordance with his orders.
The edited statement was discovered by the Attorney General's office as documents for release under the 30-year rule were being prepared.
Capt Kelly's eldest daughter, Suzanne, yesterday said her father had made it his life's work to clear his name. "He has got obsessed with it. When I come to see him now, the first thing he says 'What have you done?' It's the only thing he is clinging on to."
Proceedings aimed at clearing his name were initiated on his behalf in the High Court last Thursday, according to his solicitor, Ms Margaret Carey.
Capt Kelly sought a declaration that his right to trial was breached at hearings into the importation of weapons and ammunition to the State. He claimed this occurred through the alteration and/or amendment of the statement of Col Michael Hefferon to the trial in May 1970.
Former Fine Gael Taoiseach Mr John Bruton yesterday called on the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, to move on the issue "in the next day", given Capt Kelly's state of health.
The Labour Party's spokesman on justice, Mr Joe Costello also backed the family plea, saying it was time the State made an apology.
In May, Capt Kelly won a libel action against the publishers and the author of The Arms Trial.
Part of the apology read: "[any references in the book] suggesting or implying that Capt Kelly was guilty of wrongdoing or improper conduct or that he had acted upon inappropriate orders from persons other than his military superiors and/or the minister for defence are untrue".
Capt Kelly described it as his first public vindication in 33 years.