A further three IRA prisoners have been released from Portlaoise Prison, bringing the number of those freed since the Belfast Agreement to a dozen.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice last night said the three prisoners had been on temporary release for a number of weeks and were informed, on their return to the prison on Saturday, that they were on full release with immediate effect. During their term on temporary release, they were obliged to report regularly to a Garda station. The names of those released were not available last night, nor was the nature of their convictions.
This is the third spate of releases of republican prisoners since Christmas when nine men were freed. Government sources said the latest releases were part of the peace process and that all those freed were advocates of the Sinn Fein leadership's strategy.