The Government has repeated its determination to keep the killers of Det Garda Jerry McCabe in prison in spite of the terms of the early release programme for political prisoners under the Belfast Agreement.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, yesterday said the Government's position remained as it was at the time the agreement was signed. "There is no change in the circumstances. The position is there is no change."
Sources close to the negotiations at the time of the agreement said the Government's opposition to including the McCabe killers in the early release programme was made clear before the referendum which endorsed the agreement.
The Government therefore felt that the public was aware of its opposition to the early release of the prisoners concerned and voted in that knowledge.
A senior source said any legal challenge by the prisoners to their continued detention would be defended. There has been no indication yet of a challenge from the prisoners' legal representatives. However, Government sources expect one in the autumn when the courts reconvene. The challenge is likely to be on behalf of five Provisional IRA prisoners and not four as previously reported.
These include the four men who killed Det Garda McCabe and received sentences of between 11 and 14 years.
Pearse McAuley of Strabane; Jeremiah Sheehy of Rathkeale, Co Limerick; Michael O'Neill and Kevin Walsh, both of Patrickswell, Co Limerick, pleaded guilty to manslaughter after murder charges were dropped when a State witness refused to give evidence.
A fifth man, John Quinn, from Faha, Co Limerick, is also in Castlerea Prison serving a four-year sentence for conspiracy to rob the post office in Adare, Co Limerick, which Det Garda Mc Cabe and his colleague, Det Garda Ben O'Sullivan, were guarding when they were both shot.
These are the last five Provisional IRA prisoners held in this State. They are held in the low-security Castlerea Prison in Co Roscommon where they retain the special status afforded to the Provisional IRA wing in Portlaoise Prison which allowed the prisoners largely to regulate their own prison regime.
Sinn Fein unsuccessfully tried to negotiate the inclusion of the five in the early release programme at the time of the signing of the Belfast Agreement at Easter 1998. It is again calling on the Government to release the men following the release of all its prisoners in Northern Ireland.
Speaking in Galway yesterday , the Taoiseach told reporters that the position is "as it has always been", and as outlined by the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, on Tuesday.
Mr Ahern said: "There is no change in the position as we said, and that is the final matter . . . If there is a legal challenge, that will be looked at if it happens. I don't know of any legal challenge, I don't even know of any speculation about a legal challenge, and the position is as we outlined all the way through."
The deputy leader of Fine Gael, Mrs Nora Owen, called on the Government to state categorically that it would not release "these killers". Mrs Owen said the Government "must give a public commitment that it will vigorously challenge any court case taken by those convicted of the manslaughter of Garda Jerry McCabe".
Under the legislation implementing the agreement, the Government set up a three-member advisory group known as the Release of Prisoners Commission which includes two senior civil servants and a senior counsel.
The group can only direct the early release of prisoners if Government recommends the names. Mr O'Donoghue has said he will not refer the names of Det Garda McCabe's killers to the commission.