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Detective garda Jerry McCabe YouTube

British officials 'perplexed' by exclusion of Garda McCabe's killers from GFA early release plans

They said the move made it seem like gardaí were “valued differently” to British policemen.

BRITISH OFFICIALS SAID they were “perplexed” by the Irish government’s unwillingness to release Detective Garda Jerry McCabe’s killers from prison under the Good Friday Agreement.

They claimed that the life of a garda was being “valued differently from that of a British policeman or a member of the RUC”, according to newly-released State Papers.

In general State Papers – official documents from Government departments and the President’s Office – are declassified and released to the public 30 years after the fact. However, some records are released before or after that timeframe for various reasons.

The UK changed its law in 2010 to provide public access to the archival records of government after 20 years. Due to the close shared history of Ireland and the UK, the decision was made to release Irish documents about Anglo-Irish relations and the peace process in Northern Ireland that are over 20 years old.

In a meeting between British and Irish officials regarding the release of prisoners, the Irish contingent noted “the apparently unauthorised nature of the Adare operation, its timing, and the fact that nobody had yet been convicted” as of May 1998, arguing that the rules of the Good Friday Agreement didn’t necessarily apply in this case.

Early release for paramilitary prisoners was one of the key provisions of the Agreement and Britain wanted uniform principles to be applied to all.

McCabe was killed in Adare, Co Limerick during the attempted robbery of a post office van in June 1996 , four months after the breakdown of the first ceasefire.

His colleague Detective Garda Ben O’Sullivan was seriously injured.

The IRA initially denied involvement, but then claimed that the operation was “not authorised by the Army Council, but authorised at a lower level by an authorised person”. Sinn Féin later lobbied for an early release for those convicted.

British officials argued that “pointed questions would undoubtedly be asked if there seemed to be contradictions between the British and Irish situations”.

“There could be no question of the life of a Garda seeming to be valued differently from that of a British policeman or a member of the RUC.”

Senior advisor to Bertie Ahern Martin Mansergh said that the Taoiseach was “well aware of the wider ramifications of the case”.

There were concerns that the move would “complicate” talks with the RUC and the Northern Ireland Police Service.

In a meeting with Mo Mowlam’s Private Parliamentary Secretary Helen Jackson, Irish Diplomat Philip McDonagh  was told that decommissioning may “prove politically difficult” without a “full programme of early releases”.

But the Irish Government made clear, before and after the Agreement was signed, that it would not apply to the killers of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe, who were then awaiting trial.

In the end, the Irish government did not change its position.

Four men – Pearse McAuley, Jeremiah Sheehy, Michael O’Neill and Kevin Walsh – were convicted by the Special Criminal Court in February 1999 after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

O’Neill was released from prison in May 2007, Sheehy in February 2008, and McAuley and Walsh in August 2009, after serving their full sentences.

The reference numbers for these State Papers are 2022/45/96 and 2022/45/423

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    Mute honey badger
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    Dec 27th 2023, 9:47 PM

    Your reminder that Adams started lobbying hard for their release after just 12 months in prison. Ferris collected them upon release and they were cheered and applauded at the SF Ard Fheis.
    That’s a lot of support and celebration for lads robbing peoples pension and welfare support money from the Post Office.

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    Mute For Gods Sake.
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    Dec 27th 2023, 9:53 PM

    @honey badger: that last paragraph is ridiculous.

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    Mute For Gods Sake.
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    Dec 27th 2023, 11:24 PM

    @SF Means Sh!t 4 Free: So you think people didn’t get their welfare or pensions because it was robbed, as I said RIDICULOUS.

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    Mute Bat Collins
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    Dec 28th 2023, 12:33 AM

    @honey badger: get out of Ireland, you have no business here. Your kind has murdered too many Irish.

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    Mute Patrick MC Dermott
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    Dec 28th 2023, 9:47 AM

    @For Gods Sake.: Are you for real? Do you not realise that the money had to be replaced? I can’t believe how you can’t see that! That’s the dumbest comment I’ve ever read .

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    Mute Kieran Mac C
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    Dec 27th 2023, 9:35 PM

    One of the worst murders in the history of this country. Those thieves/murderers should have been locked up for life. They were as nationalistic as my dog’s bollo><. Painting their crime as serving the republican cause, they demonstrated they were common criminals who did not / do not deserve to own citizenshiop of this or any other republic

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    Mute Blue Moon
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    Dec 27th 2023, 9:44 PM

    @Kieran Mac C: And what party pushed and pushed for their release ? I wonder why….. And these people want to take power and run this state…. I hope NOT….

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    Mute Pat O Dwyer
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    Dec 28th 2023, 12:49 AM

    @Jimmy Wallace: The same Mary Lou who was proud to carry the coffin of Brian Keenan who orders the kidnapping of civilian Thomas Niedermeyer and later murdered by the Provos…the same Mary Lou now calling on Israel to stop targeting civilians in Gaza…hypocrite no?

    54
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    Mute David O Brien
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    Dec 27th 2023, 9:23 PM

    Don’t care. They should stay locked up. If you kill someone and you’re caught then you deserve what you get. That goes for all sides.

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    Mute William McSweeney (historyvaultie)
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    Dec 27th 2023, 9:32 PM

    @David O Brien: thankfully, all seem to be moving that way. Less ideology and more morality. However, recent moves by uk government shows that when it comes to their killers, they’re happy to brush it under the rug.

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    Mute honey badger
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    Dec 27th 2023, 9:59 PM

    I dont care if the UK government found this hard to swallow. They should have stayed jailed for the remainder of their natural lives. Capital murder is an attack on the state. They were convicted of manslaughter due to witnesses in the case being intimidated.

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    Mute Eric Naughton
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    Dec 27th 2023, 10:22 PM

    If the shoe was on the other foot and Detective Gardai Gerry McCabe/Ben O ‘Sullivan killed the IRA armed robbers, they would probably have been sacked or locked up longer for doing their job protecting the State. Nothing has changed since then, criminals have the upper hand and the protectors of peace pay the price …

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    Mute Darragh Mcnamara
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    Dec 27th 2023, 9:59 PM

    oriain1981 bit like Dublin Monaghan bombings biggest death toll in all the troubles carried out by British state collusion fact read up you’d be amazed by fg and liebour at the time as well

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    Mute Jack Moss
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    Dec 27th 2023, 9:50 PM

    One rule for the ROI and another for the UK . Over 550 families of soldiers and police officers never got justice because their killers where living in the safety of the ROI . Many more release from Jails across the UK while the ROI demanded justice for their security forces . This is why the DUP refused to support the GFA . No terrorist should have walked free from prison .

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    Mute Patrick O'Farrell
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    Dec 27th 2023, 10:16 PM

    @Jack Moss: I disagree with you on one point, the DUP didn’t and don’t support the Good Friday Agreement due to their bigotry, hatred and refusal to accept others as equals.
    The Gardaí are/were an unarmed police force, unlike the RUC/British army etc.

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    Mute Jack Moss
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    Dec 27th 2023, 10:31 PM

    @Patrick O’Farrell: you were an unarmed police force because loyalist terrorist organisations didn’t attack the ROI or the Garda . Obviously the security forces where armed they where been targeted by armed terrorists .

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    Mute Donal Desmond
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    Dec 27th 2023, 11:05 PM

    @Jack Moss: I’m sure you would agree the British intelligence officers who were involved in the Dublin/ Monaghan bombings or the officers RUC/ British security forces who were involved in the collusion of the murder of Irish people would be included in your comment. Of course you failed to mention the terrorism of the British State…that would not suit your agenda.

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    Mute Jack Moss
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    Dec 28th 2023, 12:38 AM

    @Donal Desmond: you seem to be obsessed with the Dublin Monaghan bombings . It was nothing more than a few off duty UDR soldiers and loyalists that wanted to give the ROI a bloody nose . In the Ira Republican world lies become the truth when their army shinnerbots are there to spread false facts . Strange that the security forces in NI put in a huge amount of resources trying to insure the safety of people travelling to and from the North . Trains carrying people on the Dublin Belfast rail one were targeted by the RA . They blew it up 26 times in six months . Trains came within mins of been derailed .

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    Mute Joe Kelly
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    Dec 28th 2023, 6:24 AM

    @Jack Moss: go back to sleep.

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    Mute Joe Meade
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    Dec 28th 2023, 8:46 AM

    @Uncle Awndy ;∆\
    Riddle me this….What psycho-active ‘therapies’ taken voluntarily or otherwise were the inbred Para King’s own regiment on when they wrought their savagely depraved bloodlust down on the innocent people of Ballymurphy over 3 days of callous unprovoked murder!?
    Which infamous loud-mouthed ‘reverand’ supplied funding for the bombing of powerstations in Derry and Tyrone and had his underling and former cuckolded first minister ‘raided’ towns in Cavan under the Ulcer Resistance umbrella!?
    And finally what was really in the marmalade sandwiches that Paddington served up to that rotting murderous horribillis animal Saxe-Coburg-Gotha that ensured it’s eyes rolled whist roaring for a reverand, desolate and without hope!?! ;@}

    13
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    Mute Donal Desmond
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    Dec 28th 2023, 12:44 PM

    @Jack Moss: Perhaps you can explain why successive British governments have refused to hand over documents concerning the Dublin/Monaghan bombings. Wonder why you fail to mention that British governments have acknowledged the involvement of British intelligence. British government’s have also acknowledged the collusion between security forces and the British sponsored loyalist terrorists . You seem quite happy to ignore and defend the terrorist actions of the British state.

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    Mute Bat Collins
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    Dec 28th 2023, 12:30 AM

    A British policeman has no business in Ireland.

    37
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    Mute Joe Meade
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    Dec 28th 2023, 7:55 AM

    @Bat Collins:
    A UDR/RUC/MiV operative to this bones and to this day still….gets ‘escorted’ by his handlers back to the Park everytime he ventures up North!!

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    Mute Alan Casey
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    Dec 28th 2023, 8:37 AM

    They should remain prison for as long as possible. The murder of Gerry McCabe was an attack on the State. Such activity cannot be tolerated in Ireland under any circumstances. I’m a republican and cannot condone subversion.

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    Mute Darragh Mcnamara
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    Dec 27th 2023, 9:55 PM

    Bit like the heavy Gang oh hang on…

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    Mute Seanfhear míshásta
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    Dec 27th 2023, 9:29 PM

    They were not comparing like with like.

    13
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    Mute Blue Moon
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    Dec 27th 2023, 9:45 PM

    @M Slevin: An unsanctioned job…. It was a job for the boys….

    38
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