His phone has hardly stopped ringing since the Supreme Court increased damages awarded to him earlier this month, says Frank Shortt.
He has received calls from politicians and, most importantly, wellwishers.
"I've literally taken hundreds of incoming calls from the general public," he told The Irish Times, "to just congratulate me for taking on the whole thing and bringing it to a successful conclusion. And you know, I am very impressed with the public support. It is very reassuring and encouraging".
Mr Shortt spent 27 months in jail in 1995 after being wrongly convicted of allowing the sale of drugs at his Co Donegal nightclub. On March 21st, the Supreme Court awarded him increased damages of €4.7 million.
However, Mr Shortt said that there will always be some people who believe him to be guilty.
"My name will never be cleared in the minds of many people. Because they will always say there's no smoke without a fire. But the majority of good, decent, conscientious people will say 'yes he has been cleared'."
He said that he still believes that Det Garda Noel McMahon and Supt Kevin Lennon, whose actions led to his wrongful conviction, should face charges.
"Justice Adrian Hardiman mentioned perjury in his judgment last week, that those who put me into prison perjured themselves. So why isn't the DPP prosecuting those people? But I mean I'm not going to press for the prosecution. I'll leave it up to the DPP to do his job. But I will be watching very carefully to see what happens."
Both men have since left An Garda Síochána. He added that he felt sympathy for their families.
"I don't like people to suffer because I know what suffering is like." Mr Shortt (72) said he would spend most of the damages on his five adult children.
"I'll try and get them under way. I do need some money. My wife Sally . . . is now retired so we have no income. I have no old-age pension or a superannuation fund."
Having spent his time in prison writing a book, he said that he has one final chapter to write before it is published.
He added that his health is good despite developing a heart problem in prison. His doctor told him it was stress-related, due to "being without my family and living in an environment I couldn't possibly get used to".
