The Minister for Justice has said he is optimistic there could be a "huge step forward" in the next 72 hours in relation to the peace process in Northern Ireland.
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell
But Mr McDowell said he will not speculate as to whether the killers of Det Garda Jerry McCabe will be released because the "preconditions" for such a release have not yet been met.
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.
Mr McDowell said a visit to Mrs Ann McCabe, the widow of the garda shot dead during an armed robbery in Adare, Co Limerick, in June 1996, where there was an end to the violence in Northern Ireland, it would be one of the happiest journeys he would ever make.
Speaking to the media in Kinnegad, Co Westmeath, today, Mr McDowell said: "If I can bring closure and the Government can bring closure to 30 years of violence and civil disorder in Northern Ireland and finally write a red line under this whole chapter, going to see Mrs McCabe, if those circumstances arise will be one of the happiest journeys I'll ever make in my life.
"But I'm not willing to speculate as to whether that journey will be made, because the preconditions for it, which are a complete and proven end to paramilitarism, complete and total decommissioning of all IRA weapons and an end to all IRA criminality . . . have not yet been delivered and therefore I am not willing to speculate further as to whether I will be making that journey."
Mr McDowell said the position, which had not changed since he addressed the Seanad last May, was that the Government would not consider the release of the killers until there was a total end to paramilitarism, a total end to criminality and "total decommissioning of all weapons".
Questioned about the Garda Representative Association's decision to seek legal advice on whether the convicted killers qualify for release under the Belfast Agreement, Mr McDowell said it was up to the organisation to take legal advice as it saw fit.
"But I have consulted with the GRA in this matter and have kept them fully informed of where things are at the moment and I will keep them fully informed of any developments. I don't want to comment on the legal rights and wrongs of the situation at the moment. This is a matter which is fundamentally in the political sphere," Mr McDowell said.
Asked about the possibility of a breakthrough in talks on the peace process this week, Mr McDowell said there was "a lot to be done" and very little time to do it this week but he was optimistic that with "goodwill" that Ireland north and south could "take a huge step forward in the next 72 hours".
There were two conditions that had to be met for such a breakthrough, he said.
These were an end to paramilitarism on the part of the "Provos" and a commitment on the part of the unionist community to working the institutions of the Belfast Agreement, Mr McDowell said.
"If they can be achieved in the next 24 hours or 48 hours that will be a huge achievement. I think it's possible, of course, with goodwill, but it requires courage and bravery and a willingess to see the other side of the story on both sides."