O'Caolain speaker at McMahon reception

The Sinn Fein TD, Mr Caoimhghin O'Caolain, was guest speaker at a homecoming reception in Co Louth last night for Thomas McMahon, the former IRA bomber released from prison in August.

Several hundred people were expected to attend the £5-a-head event, held in a Dundalk hotel.

Mr O'Caolain said such events were normal for freed republican prisoners and there was "nothing special" about Mr McMahon's. "It's perfectly normal to welcome him back to his family and community, and I expect he will be recorded a very warm reception," he said. He added that the "welcome home" events were also designed to show solidarity to the families of the ex-prisoners. Mr McMahon's children had been "infants" when his jail term began, and his wife had endured a very hard time, Mr O'Caolain said.

Mr McMahon (50), from Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, served almost 19 years for the murders of Lord Mountbatten and three others who died when a bomb exploded in their boat on Mullaghmore Bay, Co Sligo, in August 1979.

Although he attempted escape in 1985 and again, armed with a handgun, during a 1988 court appearance, he was later said to be a model prisoner who had ended his association with the IRA. Having served the first 13 years of his sentence in Portlaoise Prison, he was transferred to Arbour Hill in Dublin in 1992. He had been on daily parole from the Mountjoy Prison Training Unit since January 1996, and since his full release on August 6th he has resumed work as a carpenter.