The Government would be prepared to consider the release of the killers of Det Garda Jerry McCabe if it was absolutely convinced that the IRA has wound up, the Tánaiste, Ms Harney has declared. Mark Hennessy, Political Correspondent, reports.
"I have huge sympathy for Ann McCabe and her family. She suffered so much with the tragic and brutal murder of her husband.
"I have huge sympathy too for Ben O'Sullivan and his family," she said in Tallaght yesterday.
The Government had, she said, repeatedly made it clear that it would speak to Mrs McCabe, the Garda Representative Association and Det Garda McCabe's wounded partner, Mr Ben O'Sullivan before any decision is taken.
"There is no question about that, and there is no question about these people qualifying under the Good Friday agreement. We have always been clear about that.
"If, however, I become convinced and others become convinced that paramilitarism in all its forms, that the IRA are going to lay down their arms forever, and it is only going to be through peaceful political means that Sinn Féin pursues its agenda then, and only then, will we give consideration to wider issues such as this, and only in those circumstances.
"There is no question of it being discussed in any other context, or being considered in any other context.
"Since I and the Progressive Democrats came to government in 1997 we have always taken a very hard view in relation to this matter," she said.
The four men, Kevin Walsh, Pearse McAuley, Michael O'Neill and Jeremiah Sheehy are serving sentences in Castlerea prison, ranging between 11 and 14 years for the manslaughter of the garda in Adare, Co Limerick in 1996.
The issue of releasing Det Garda McCabe's killers is particularly sensitive for the Progressive Democrats, because one of its TDs, Minister of State, Mr Tim O'Malley represents Limerick East.
"From time to time Government has to put things in a broader perspective.
"I want to make it clear that there is no question of these people being released under the Good Friday agreement. We have always made that clear.
"The Government has not considered the release of these people.
"If I as a member of the Government became convinced, and I mean convinced, that the IRA had put down their arms for all time, that there was an end to paramilitarism in all of its forms then, and only then, could I even consider the question of these people being released in the wider context of trying to ensure that nobody else has to suffer like the McCabes and Ben O'Sullivan's family, that no other family on the island of Ireland has to suffer.
"It would only be in that context. We are certainly not in that context at the moment, as far as I am concerned."
Rejecting charges that the Government has mishandled its negotiations with Sinn Féin about the McCabe killers, she said: "I don't believe it has. The Government is trying to ensure here that on the island of Ireland we end the situation where people have lived in danger, where politics has not been pursued as it is pursued here in the Republic and every other democracy in the world.
Saying that the Government had worked "hard" on the peace process, it would be "irresponsible for the Irish Government, the British government and every other politician not to look at issues that may make a contribution to ensuring that nobody else has to suffer like Ann McCabe, that nobody else has to suffer like Ben O'Sullivan, that no other members of the Garda Síochána, or a member of the RUC [ sic] has to suffer.
"It is only in that context that this could even be considered."
Speaking in Brussels on Thursday evening, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr McDowell, dismissed charges that the Government was "caving in" to Sinn Féin's long-voiced demand for the killers' release.
"The question of any early release does not arise in the context of on-going paramilitarism and on-going Provisional criminality," said Mr McDowell after a meeting of justice ministers in Brussels.
"There is no onus being put on the Government, the onus is very much on the Provisionals," said Mr McDowell.
"It's not that a gun is being put to anybody's head. The governments are the sovereign governments of these islands, they make decisions on these matters."