The man named in court as having shot dead Veronica Guerin has been released from Portlaoise Prison.
Patrick Eugene "Dutchy" Holland was released shortly after midnight after having completed a 12-year sentence, less a remission period, for possession of cannabis, a spokesman for the Irish Prison Service told ireland.com.
Holland (66), who was a member of the John Gilligan drugs gang, was originally sentenced to 20 years but this was reduced in 1998 to 12 years after he successfully appealed the sentence to the Court of Criminal Appeal.
The court rejected an appeal of his conviction at that time.
Holland plans to fly to Rome for a lie detector test immediately on his release from prison in an effort to prove he did not carry out the murder, it has emerged.
He has arranged an appointment with a lie detector specialist in Rome through his legal representative Giovanni di Stefano.
Mr di Stefano claims to have acted as legal adviser to Saddam Hussein in the past.
Meanwhile, The Late Late Showhad planned to interview Holland after his release from jail but the move was vetoed by the director general of RTE Cathal Goan.
Holland's nephew James Holland said his uncle is prepared to "do what it takes" to clear his name in relation to Veronica Guerin's murder in June 1996.