`No conflict' between Minister and hospital director on Gallagher

The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, is not in conflict with the director of the Central Mental Hospital, Dr Charles Smith, over whether John Gallagher poses a threat to the public, a spokesman for the Department has said.

"Regarding the Minister's role, he took reports from the advisory committee [established in 1991 to monitor Gallagher's progress] and at all times followed its advice. At no stage did it recommend that John Gallagher be released.

"After that it is up to Charles Smith to say what he feels is correct. We can't speak for him and we are not going say there is a conflict."

An advisory committee - of a consultant psychiatrist, a senior counsel and a general practitioner - was established after Gallagher appealed to the Supreme Court for his release on the grounds that he was no longer insane.

He had been found guilty but insane in 1989 of the murder of Anne Gillespie (18) and her mother Annie in the grounds of Sligo General Hospital the previous year.

Gallagher failed to return to the hospital on July 16th after a day's temporary release. He has since been located in Britain, where he was arrested by Thames Valley Police in Oxford on Friday evening. He was later released following an assessment by two psychiatrists who deemed him sane. He is understood now to be in London and gardai have been advised that an extradition warrant would fail, as the original guilty but insane verdict was technically an acquittal.

Last week Dr Smith said Gallagher did not pose a threat to the public following 12 years' detention in the hospital. However a spokesman for the Department said the advisory committee had not recommended Gallagher's release at its last meeting in May last year.

He said it made recommendations on the programme under which Gallagher should be detained. This programme, which had grown increasingly liberal, was designed to "provide objective evidence as to whether or not he was a risk to the public or private interest".

As the committee had not yet recommended Gallagher's release he was "technically and legally . . . still a threat", the spokesman said.

Dr Smith was unavailable for comment last night, though a spokeswoman for the Eastern Regional Health Authority said the fact the advisory committee had not yet recommended Gallagher's release did not necessarily mean he continued to pose a public threat.

"He was on a pre-release programme," she said. "The fact that he was not yet ready for release doesn't have to mean he is a danger to the public. It may be that he was still being prepared to live independently, was still being rehabilitated."

Thirteen such advisory committees have been established since the 1991 Supreme Court ruling to review the cases of six patients at the Central Mental Hospital. Of these, three had been granted full release, which was implemented on a phased basis.

Of the other three, one was released into the care of a local psychiatric hospital elsewhere in the State, one was released temporarily into the care of a psychiatric hospital elsewhere in the State, and the third was Gallagher.