Rite & Reason:It is likely that Nicky Kelly would have died while on hunger strike in 1983 but for the actions of Catholic Church figures, writes Patsy McGarry.
In 1978, Nicky Kelly was sentenced to 12 years' penal servitude following conviction of involvement in the Sallins mail train robbery of March 1976, solely on the basis of a confession signed in Garda custody.
After a prolonged campaign, involving the church, he was released from jail "on humanitarian grounds" in 1984 and pardoned by President Mary Robinson in 1992.
It has never been explained, or inquired into, how he confessed to a crime he did not do; how the courts accepted that "confession" as evidence, despite details presented of its circumstances; or how he was kept in prison while others jailed on similar evidence were released. Nor has it been explained, or inquired into, how Kelly was kept in jail despite "exhausting the appellate jurisdiction" of this State, as then chief justice Tom O'Higgins memorably put it.
Such was the widespread belief in his innocence at home and abroad that by the early 1980s, a Free Nicky Kelly Committee had even been set up in the US, involving Fr Daniel Berrigan, former US attorney general Ramsey Clarke, and Fr Seán McManus of the Irish National Caucus. In Ireland a Release Nicky Kelly Committee was set up, while the Catholic bishops' Irish Commission for Justice and Peace (ICJP) became involved.
This body, chaired by auxiliary bishop of Dublin, Dr Dermot O'Mahony, included his colleague and fellow Dublin auxiliary bishop, Dr James Kavanagh, and was active in trying to end the 1981 H-Block hunger strikes in the North. They attempted the same in Nicky Kelly's case, during his 37-day hunger strike in 1983. Driven by desperation, on May 1st, 1983, Kelly began that hunger strike in Portlaoise prison. Within three weeks, his condition had deteriorated badly.
At the time then minister for justice Micheal Noonan explained on RTÉ Radio that he would be acting beyond his powers to release Kelly.
He would also be saying, he said, that the judges in his case were incorrect or incompetent and that 15 or 16 gardaí had committed perjury.
The ICJP was playing a central role in trying to resolve the situation when the Department of Justice refused further meetings with them. Even the papal nuncio, Archbishop Gaetano Alibrandi, lobbied Michael Noonan but he confided in Kelly's sister, Breda, that he felt he had been treated "like a meddling old man who should mind his own business".
Other Catholic Church figures and groups became involved, including Fr Seán Healy of the Conference of Major Religious Superiors (now Cori) and the Knights of Columbanus.
On June 1st, 1983, as Nicky Kelly fell into sharper decline, the ICJP issued a statement suggesting he take a case to the European Commission and Court of Human Rights. They also suggested Michael Noonan re-examine his position on the case.
Told about the ICJP proposal Kelly agreed to it, but continued the hunger strike, arguing the case could go ahead posthumously. The Catholic primate, Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich, then intervened to tell Kelly his release was likely, following a cooling-off period of a few months. That, and a seeming invitation by the government to take a civil action against the State, which would be speeded up, helped Kelly decide to end his hunger strike, on June 7th.
The campaign for Kelly's release continued, and further legal efforts failed. An audience with Pope John Paul was set up by Archbishop Alibrandi. It took place on December 14th, 1983, arranged by John Paul's personal secretary, John Magee, now Bishop of Cloyne.
Breda told Pope John Paul about the case and hunger strike. They presented him with a Celtic cross Nicky had made in prison. And asked by Breda, Pope John Paul agreed to write to Michael Noonan about the case.
Patsy McGarry is Religious Affairs Correspondent and author ofWhile Justice Slept: The True Story of Nicky Kelly and the Sallins Train Robbery , published by the Liffey Press.