The last female republican prisoner in the State was released yesterday. Ms Josephine Hayden (57), was sentenced to six years in 1996 for possession of a shotgun and revolver, and had been held in Limerick prison. She and two republican prisoners in Portlaoise jail - Mr Martin McGrath from Donegal and Mr Sean Moore from Monaghan - who were arrested with her, were released upon expiration of their sentences yesterday morning.
During her imprisonment a campaign, headed by the Josephine Hayden Support Group, called for Ms Hayden's release on humanitarian grounds. She suffered a heart attack in May 1997, and was hospitalised for a week. Last year there were further calls for her release when a petition with 8,000 signatories was delivered to the Department of Justice.
An accompanying letter said Ms Hayden should have been afforded the same status as a number of men who were arrested with her but accommodated in Portlaoise prison.
Among the signatories to that letter was Republican Sinn Fein who said she had been treated differently because she was a woman political prisoner. Ms Hayden, a mother of two, is from Knockmore Grove in Tallaght.
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