The Director of Public Prosecutions has taken the unprecedented step of giving a full explanation of mistakes made in the prosecution of Ms Nora Wall and Mr Paul McCabe earlier this year for rape, and has said he will not pursue a retrial in the case.
The DPP, who has never explained his actions in a specific case in the 25-year history of the office, gave his account of the errors in the case in a six-page report to the Attorney General.
This report had been requested by the AG, Mr Michael McDowell from the newly appointed Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr James Hamilton, in September. Both men had intended it to be published, a spokeswoman said.
The report was released to the press yesterday at a briefing held by the Government Press Secretary, the Head of the Government Information Service and an official from the Attorney General's Office. The three officials said they were acting on behalf of the Attorney General.
A spokeswoman said this did not signify that the DPP, a law officer entirely independent of Government, believed the Government or the AG could speak for his office.
A legal representative of Ms Wall said last night that she was "relieved", but could not say whether she would consider taking legal action against the State alleging a miscarriage of justice.
Lawyers for Ms Wall and Mr McCabe said yesterday they were informed of the DPP's decision not to pursue a retrial only yesterday afternoon, shortly after the press was briefed on the matter.
Fine Gael called last night for a full sworn inquiry into the case. Its justice spokesman, Mr Jim Higgins, said that the fact that a retrial was not being sought "in no way mitigates the shoddy mishandling of this case and the trauma it has caused for both defendants".
Labour's justice spokesman, Mr Brendan Howlin, called on the Minister for Justice to make a full Dail statement on the case. He accepted that the mistakes were made as a result of "human error" but called for action to ensure they were not repeated.
An AG's spokesman said the State did not intend to issue an apology to Ms Wall and Mr McCabe, who were convicted of rape in July in a highly publicised case only to have their convictions quashed within days.
Ms Wall, a former nun, and Mr McCabe had their convictions quashed by the Court of Criminal Appeal after the DPP applied to have the convictions set aside. He did so after it emerged that a witness, whom the DPP had directed not be called, was inadvertently called to give evidence.
Both defendants had been convicted of the rape of a 10-year-old girl in the care of the Sisters of Mercy children's home in Cappoquin, Co Waterford on a date in 1987 or 1988. Ms Wall was given a life sentence and Mr McCabe a 12-year term. The decision of the DPP not to proceed with a retrial will be formally announced in court next Monday.
The new DPP, Mr James Hamilton, is understood to favour greater disclosure of information about the operation of the office. However, a spokeswoman for the AG said the practice of his predecessor, Mr Eamonn Barnes, of never explaining why a decision to prosecute or not to prosecute an individual was taken would continue.
The report details a series of misunderstandings and errors that led to the calling of the witness, and details a number of improvements in procedures that will now be adopted to try to ensure a similar mistake does not recur.