The Department of Defence has released for examination files on a Tipperary man who claims he was wrongfully dismissed from the Army.
A Government spokesman said yesterday that files relating to Mr Dónal de Róiste, who was involuntarily retired from service 34 years ago, have been passed to the Judge Advocate General (legal adviser) at the Department, and she will report to the Minister in a few weeks. The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, will await her report before taking any further action.
Sister Helen Prejean, an American campaigning nun, has lent her support to a new international campaign to clear the name of the former lieutenant. Sister Helen, the author of the best-selling book Dead Man Walking, said Mr de Róiste's case "reeks of injustice".
Mr de Róiste strenuously claims that he is innocent of any wrongdoing and that the State is currently "stonewalling" his efforts to establish that he was wrongfully retired by President Eamon de Valera in 1969 "in the interests of the service".
He has rejected suggestions that he was removed from the Army because he was associated with republican subversives, and his supporters insist his case involves a miscarriage of justice.
In Dublin yesterday Sister Prejean joined Mr de Róiste's 83-year-old mother, Christina, and his sister, the Chernobyl campaigner, Ms Adi Roche, in calling on the Taoiseach to release Army files on his case in the interests of justice and openness.
"The whole thing just reeks of injustice from the beginning," said Sister Prejean, whose eyewitness account of the death penalty in the US was turned into a film staring Susan Sarandon, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of the nun.
Turning to Mr de Róiste, she added: "Dónal, I think you have been given a kind of death sentence because the name of Dónal de Róiste has become associated with impropriety, wrongdoing, a scoundrel, and you can kill a person by killing his name. That's another kind of death."
Mr Don Mullan, who has investigated the case, said his "plausible hypothesis" was that Mr de Róiste was retired because he had witnessed a car accident in which a drunken senior officer injured an innocent civilian.
Mr de Róiste's supporters, who include the Irish actor, Gabriel Byrne, and retired Comdt Patrick Walshe, want him to be allowed access to his files.
They claim the Government may have been misled by information presented by Mr de Róiste's accusers and that Mr de Valera may have been wrongly advised. The campaign includes a postcard petition to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern.
Mr de Róiste's mother was close to tears as she recounted yesterday the traumatic effect her son's experience had had on her family "because we could never understand how such an injustice could be done to such a young officer who had never done anything wrong".
Mrs de Róiste's recently deceased husband was estranged from his son over the incident, as he could not believe the State could perpetrate such a wrong.
Ms Adi Roche, whose 1997 presidential election campaign was blighted by leaks about her elder brother's background, said the injustice to her family had left a deep wound from which blood was still flowing.
"This is not a campaign of revenge or retribution. All we want is something simple. Dónal has the right to his good name," she said.
Mr de Róiste made a plea to the Government to "please just get out of the road and allow some access. What about the openness and accountability we hear about? Let's talk the talk, now walk the walk."
The Minister stated in the Dáil earlier this month that a decision to retire an officer "in the interests of the service" was only taken for the most compelling reasons.
"Given that the Government decision and advice to the President concerned military security, I can say that I am satisfied that the matter was handled in an entirely appropriate and proper manner in accordance with the relevant Defence Forces regulations extant at the time," he said.