The Garda Representative Association (GRA) yesterday criticised the Government for agreeing to negotiate with Sinn Féin over the release of the killers of Det Garda Jerry McCabe and called on it to withdraw its demand for theirearly release.
Yesterday, delegates to the Limerick division of the GRA called on the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, to meet them as soon as possible to clarify the Government's position on the release of the four IRA men serving sentences for the killing of Det Garda McCabe during a botched raid in Adare on June 7th, 1996.
Mr Paul Browne, the Limerick representative on the central executive committee, said he strongly rejected any suggestion that the GRA's opposition to the release of the men could jeopardise a peace deal in the North.
"Guns should not be put to the head of the Garda Representative Association or Ann McCabe on this issue. We're not standing in the way of any peace process.
"The mistake, in my view, was made by the Government in putting this on the agenda with Sinn Féin when they knew full well that they should not because they had struck a deal with the GRA and, most importantly, with the McCabe family."
He said the only way forward now was for Sinn Féin to withdraw their demand for an early release for the killers. Mr Browne said that gardaí stationed in Limerick felt very let down after receiving assurances from the Government that the killers would not be favoured by the Belfast Agreement. He said gardaí nationwide were concerned now that an early release would set a precedent for other such cases in the future.
He said the release of the McCabe killers was never an issue under the terms of the Belfast Agreement. He also argued that the lenient sentences handed down to the men was "a small price for Sinn Féin to pay to achieve peace".
The GRA will outline their demands to the Taoiseach when they meet him and will ask that he convey them to Sinn Féin.
"He should be going back to Sinn Féin and telling them that this is not on the agenda," he said.
In the event that they are not satisfied with the meeting with the Taoiseach, Mr Browne said they will seek legal advice on whether a letter of assurance signed by the former minister for justice Mr John O'Donoghue would have any legal standing as a contract to which the Government could be held.
The regional chairman, Mr Kevin McCarthy, said the mood of the meeting had been one of "controlled anger". He and his colleagues did not accept that it was a foregone conclusion that the McCabe killers would be release.
