Some 40 "Real IRA" and other dissident "political" prisoners in Portlaoise have been refused all visits for two months and are being confined to their cells from 4.30 p.m. after threats were made to the lives of prison officers and their families, it has emerged.
The threats were made during and after a violent weekend protest in which 40 prisoners refused to return to their cells after evening association on Friday and had to be forcibly returned on Saturday morning.
The protest was the first major challenge to the prison authorities from a terrorist group since the 1980s, and a report on the incident is being prepared for delivery to the Government later this week.
It is not clear if the incident marks the beginning of a prison protest campaign by the "Real IRA" prisoners who now represent the largest single "political" group in the prison system.
Prison sources said they were surprised at the violence during the protest and at the subsequent threats to named officers and their families.
Three prison officers and one prisoner were taken to Portlaoise General Hospital during Friday evening but all were discharged soon afterwards. A remand prisoner in the "Real IRA" wing was taken to hospital on Saturday morning when he displayed signs of raised blood pressure but was also released soon afterwards.
The protest took place on a first- floor wing of the four-storey main prison block. During the melee one officer fell through the wire mesh covering the landing on the ground floor. He was treated briefly in hospital and returned to work the next day.
Mr Sean Aylward, director of the Prisons Authority, yesterday said his officers had used "minimal force" in ending the protest. Officers were dressed in protective clothing and had shields but were not issued with batons. The prison governor also called the Garda to witness the operation.
Mr Aylward said yesterday: "There was tremendous and in some cases very violent resistance to our officers. All the officers involved are trained in control and restraint procedures and were in protective suits, helmets and visors. We used minimal force.
They were causing disruption to the entire prison. What has happened has caused profound concern. We are deeply angered that officers, their wives and children were threatened during the course of this incident."
He said the prisoners' claim that the protest began after a 32-year-old prisoner from Dundalk was refused temporary leave to visit a seriously child was untrue. The Prisons Authority had made inquiries and the child was in hospital last Friday for observation for a viral infection but was discharged on Saturday.
Senior sources said that so long as the "Real IRA" continued its terrorist campaign, its prisoners would only receive temporary release in cases where the life of an immediate relative was in danger or death had taken place. This regime was imposed on Provisional IRA prisoners while its campaign was under way.
Prison sources say it appears the "Real IRA" prisoners appeared to be attempting to gain concessions such as those granted to Provisional IRA prisoners during the peace process. These are being denied to the "Real IRA" so long as it continues its terrorist campaign on the outside.
However, it was pointed out that the dissident prisoners in Portlaoise have considerable privileges including televisions and radios in their cells; a varied programme of educational and cultural classes; library facilities; and a large amount of free association. The men are usually allowed association until 8.30 p.m.
There is some confusion about the decision of the seven prisoners claiming to be INLA to become involved in the protest.
This group is led by Dessie O'Hare, the so-called "Border Fox" who is serving a 40-year term for the kidnapping of Mr John O'Grady in 1987.
He and the other members of the group claim to support the peace process and have been seeking early release.
None of the other prisoners in Portlaoise, including the group of 32 major Dublin criminal figures who are held on the ground floor, took part in the protest.
The prisoners on the ground floor include members of the gang that murdered the journalist Veronica Guerin.