The IRA killers of Det Garda Jerry McCabe would have been free by now under a deal agreed with the Government last October, Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams has said.
Speaking in Dublin last night, Mr Adams was asked if he was saying that the four men held in Castlerea, Co Roscommon, would be out by now. He replied: "Absolutely, absolutely."
The Sinn Féin leader's declaration causes significant problems for the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, who has said that no such deal was done but that the Government would be prepared to accept their release if a final peace deal could be agreed.
Mr Adams said: "That was actually agreed. The sequence of agreed actions and commitments was agreed. What we have to do is put it back together again.
"Not only will it not be possible to persuade people in the future, it would not have been possible to get the IRA to do what it did in October without agreement on this range of outstanding issues."
Kevin Walsh and Pearse McCauley each received 14 years for manslaughter after Det Garda Jerry McCabe was shot in Adare, Co Limerick, in June 1996.
Jerry Sheehy received 12 years for manslaughter, and Michael O'Neill an 11-year sentence for the same offence.
Mr Adams said he was "very mindful" that demands for the release from Castlerea Prison of the McCabe killers was "a very sensitive issue".
"I am especially mindful of the plight of the McCabe family, and of Mrs McCabe, but if you are asking me if the release of these prisoners was part of an agreed sequence, the answer to that is Yes. I am saying that there was an agreement actually which should have seen the prisoners released as part of an agreed sequence at that time," he said.
However, he was particularly keen to ensure that the focus was not put entirely on the McCabe killers, but rather on the full package of Sinn Féin's demands.
"In my view this should not be the subject of a negotiation. These men are qualifying prisoners under the Good Friday agreement."
Mr Adams said Sinn Féin had accused the British government of reneging on other issues, "but they have kept by and large to their commitment on the prisoners".
"The issue of the release of these prisoners is one that has been a difficult one, a painful one over the last almost six years.
"All of us needs to understand that this isn't reduced to the plight of people who happen to be in prison at this time, that there are other issues involved, arguably issues which are part of the entitlement of citizens on issues like justice, human rights, issues like demilitarisation, issues of the institutions in place and functioning, as we all voted for under the Good Friday agreement."