The Minister for Justice has said he regrets that John Gallagher's disappearance from the Central Mental Hospital in Dublin has become a "political football".
Mr O'Donoghue was responding to comments by the Fine Gael spokesman on justice, Mr Alan Shatter, who yesterday called on the Minister to make a comprehensive statement.
Gallagher (34) absconded from the Dundrum hospital on Saturday afternoon. He had been detained there for over 11 years after a jury found him guilty but insane when he shot dead his former girlfriend, Anne Gillespie (18), and her mother, Annie (50), in the grounds of Sligo General Hospital in 1988.
Mr Shatter said that, given the level of public disquiet about the incident, there had been an "extraordinary silence" from the Minister.
"It is not unreasonable that the Minister for Justice should now be required to make a detailed and comprehensive statement 72 hours after Mr Gallagher absconded. A concerned public is entitled to get more than a dripfeed of information from Garda sources to the national media," he said.
Mr Shatter said newspaper reports that Gallagher had fled abroad would serve to heighten public concern and he called on the Minister to explain what steps were being taken to avoid a recurrence of the incident.
A spokeswoman for the East Coast Area Health Board, which manages the Central Mental Hospital, yesterday emphasised that Gallagher had been on a pre-planned social outing when he disappeared. "He left the hospital legitimately. Since there was no breach of security involved, the question of a review of security does not arise."
As part of a pre-release programme, Gallagher was allowed weekend excursions with curfews and was permitted to work full time. However, he was not allowed outside the Dublin area. He had stayed away from the hospital overnight on about four occasions since being detained there. Nine other patients are currently staying in the same hostel on the hospital grounds in which Gallagher lived.
Mr O'Donoghue, who had the final decision on whether Gallagher should have remained in the hospital, yesterday emphasised that he would have acted on the professional advice given to him by an independent advisory committee.
A psychiatrist who was acting for Gallagher's free legal aid team saw him the day before he absconded and is understood to have made a positive report. However, it is believed that Gallagher feared a review of his case would not be favourable.
Gallagher is currently represented by Garret Sheehan & Co, a Dublin firm of solicitors. He was previously represented by Mr Joe Carter, a Sligo solicitor, who yesterday described him as "always pleasant".
Scotland Yard in London said last night that it was "certain" a description of Gallagher and details of his disappearance had been circulated among the 43 police forces in Britain.
A spokeswoman said that while it was not possible to check if the details had been received, it would be "routine" that police forces in Britain would be made aware of the case if Gallagher's description and photograph had been passed to Interpol.
"It is absolutely routine in cases like this that when someone has absconded, and it is believed the person is in another country, then all the details would have been circulated among the police forces. There is no reason why that should not happen," she said.