Three IRA bomb-makers and a five-man IRA unit caught testing mortars in Donegal last year are among 10 IRA prisoners receiving Christmas parole from Portlaoise Prison.
Also among the 10 is Thomas McMahon who is serving a life sentence for murdering Lord Mountbatten. It is the third Christmas McMahon has received parole. He is regularly given temporary release and serves his time in the low-security training unit at Mountjoy Prison.
McMahon also dissociated from the IRA organisation in Portlaoise some years ago and is no longer seen as a danger. He was detected after gardai stopped a car in which he was travelling with Francis McGirl, from Ballinamore, Co Leitrim, two hours before the bomb exploded on board Lord Mountbatten's yacht in Donegal Bay in August 1979. Two teenage boys, Paul Maxwell and Lord Mountbatten's nephew Nicholas Knatchbull, and the Dowager Brabourne were killed in the bombing.
The two men, both known IRA members, were being questioned at Granard Garda station in Roscommon when news of the bomb explosion arrived. McMahon, who is believed to have prepared the bomb, was convicted of murdering Lord Mountbatten the following year but McGirl, who is believed to have planted the bomb, was acquitted. McGirl died in a tractor accident on his farm three years ago.
The three IRA bomb-makers receiving Christmas parole are Anthony Heaney, from Co Tyrone, and Ciaran Chambers and Matthew Hennessy, both from Dublin.
Heaney was arrested by gardai in Letterkenny in December 1993 and had three improvised mortars containing Semtex explosive. He had been under observation for some time as gardai believed he was one of the IRA's main bomb and rocket makers.
His sentence, of 15 years, means that he is not officially due for release until 2005.
Chambers was arrested at a flat in Ranelagh in Dublin in November 1993 with bomb-making equipment. He was granted bail, absconded and arrested again in Dublin in April 1994. Gardai believed he was an important bombmaker for the IRA. The bomb parts found in his possession were similar to parts used in some of the major IRA bomb attacks in Britain from 1993 to 1996. He is serving seven years and is due for release in July 1999.
Hennessy, from Ballyfermot, is serving 10 years for possessing mortar parts. He was arrested in March 1993 and is due for release in September 2000.
The IRA unit from Derry arrested as they tested an improvised mortar i in Donegal as they testing an improvised mortar in Malin Head, Co Donegal, are Hugh Wilkinson (45); Paul Murray (25); Bernard O'Hagan (36); Patrick Kavanagh (34); and Patrick McCartney (46). They were all sentenced to six years imprisonment and are due to complete there sentences in 2001.
The 10th man is Andrew Gillespie senior from Ballybofey, Co Donegal. He is serving 12 years for possessing explosives at his farm in August 1993.
The 10 are among 350 prisoners receiving Christmas parole this year. Most are low-security status prisoners.