Four Provisional IRA prisoners, serving sentences imposed earlier this year of up to 20 years for running an arms factory, will be released from Portlaoise prison this morning.
The men are the last of the Provisional IRA prisoners serving sentences in Portlaoise for arms offences committed in the Republic. Only those Provisionals serving sentences for the murder of gardai and the prisoners transferred from prisons in England remain incarcerated in this State.
The Government agreed the release of the four men serving sentences for running a factory making mortars and timer-power units for large bombs at Clonaslee, Co Laois in June 1996.
The factory was one of the key IRA arms-making operations when it was discovered and raided by officers from the Special Detective Unit. Three of the Provisional IRA's top arms-dealing and manufacturing figures were caught in the act of preparing mortars. One of the men, Mr Gabriel Cleery (54), from Friarstown, Tallaght had previously served a sentence in France after he was arrested on the arms smuggling ship, the Eksund, in 1987.
The man believed to be in charge of Provisional arms manufacturing, Mr Bryan McNally (57), was also arrested. Mr McNally, from Foxrock, Co Dublin, owns and runs a light engineering business in west Dublin.
The third key figure was Mr John Conaty (37), from Balbutcher Park, Balymun. Garda had been searching for Mr Conaty for over 10 years after he disappeared when he was linked to an arms find. All three were sentenced to serve 20 years' imprisonment by the Special Criminal Court on February 14th last.
The fourth man to be released this morning is Mr Denis Lahiss, in his 30s, from Dartry, Dublin. He has been serving a nine-year sentence for possession of explosives in Co Kildare in February 1997.
Altogether about 50 Provisional IRA prisoners have received early release dates in the Republic since the first IRA ceasefire in August 1995. Portlaoise still holds about 20 men, mostly waiting trial for offences related to the splinter republican groups the Continuity and "Real" IRAs. There are also a handful of other prisoners claiming political status.
None of these is eligible, to date, for early release dates.
It is expected the next batch of releases will be of the Provisional IRA prisoners transferred from English jails in the past year.