The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, will make a decision shortly about the case of a former Garda superintendent who was dismissed in 1928 for allegedly accepting a £100 bribe from the IRA.
Mr William Geary, who was 100 last week, was forced to emigrate to the US following his dismissal in 1928. He has consistently denied the allegation and protested his innocence and repeatedly appealed to successive taoisigh and ministers for justice to rescind the decision.
Last night in the Dail, the Minister for Justice said he had received two submissions on behalf of Mr Geary, since he gave the centenarian access, for the first time, to the full file and the case against him.
Mr O'Donoghue said he had received the latest submission on March 5th and "I am now considering them with a view to bringing a recommendation to Government for a decision".
The possibility that Mr Geary was framed "has to be considered". Mr O'Donoghue said that an indepth investigation was carried out in the 1970s to see if he had been set up by the IRA.
"However, the inquiry was inconclusive because as far as could be established all the individuals who had been in the IRA at the time and who would have been privy to that information, had since passed away."
He also highlighted the fact there had been a number of reviews of the case over the years "but each came to the conclusion that there were no new facts that would justify overturning the original 1928 decision".
The issue was raised on the adjournment by Mr Michael Finucane (FG, Limerick West) who saw the article and editorial on the case in The Irish Times.
He called for a "thorough investigation" of the case and for the Government to exonerate Mr Geary. Mr Finucane said the former garda was from Limerick and had a lot of relatives in the Limerick area, one of whom had asked him to raise the issue in whatever way he could.