The Department of Justice yesterday dismissed any suggestions that the move within the prison system of the convicted murder, Malcolm Macarthur, had any significance in relation to his eventual release from jail.
Macarthur was convicted in 1982 of the murder of a Co Meath nurse, Ms Bridie Gargan. He was moved yesterday to the training unit complex of Mountjoy Prison, a move which sometimes precedes the imminent release of long-term prisoners.
However, a spokesman for the Minister, Mr O'Donoghue, said this was not to be interpreted as meaning that an early release date was planned.