The family of Mrs Nancy Nolan, the 80-year-old Co Galway widow who was murdered by a prisoner on day release last year, is not satisfied with the Minister for Justice's handling of the report on the circumstances.
The Galway East Fine Gael TD, Mr Paul Connaughton, has also described as "very strange" the timing of publication - late on Friday evening - and the fact that the report was released to the media before the family had received copies.
Mrs Eileen Glynn, one of Mrs Nolan's two surviving sisters, said that she learned about the report's publication on the RTE television news at 6 p.m. on Friday. She had received no prior notification from the Minister or his Department, she said, and nor had any of Mrs Nolan's six children, to her knowledge.
Mrs Glynn's sister was killed by Thomas Murray at her home near Ballygar on the Galway-Roscommon border in February 2000. She had taught him when he was a pupil at Ballaghlea school. Mrs Nolan was one of the few people who had spoken to Murray when he was on day release from Castlerea Prison, Co Roscommon, where he was serving a life sentence for the murder of William Mannion in 1981.
Six years after being sentenced for that crime in 1982, Murray was found guilty of exposing himself during a temporary release period, and was returned to custody with a six-month sentence.
Mrs Glynn said she and members of the family would be studying the report, compiled by Mr John Olden, former secretary-general of the Department of the Gaeltacht. The report found that the governor of Castlerea Prison had warned that Murray could "kill again" just over a year before he claimed his second victim. It also found that gardai had opposed his temporary release on a number of occasions, and it highlights weaknesses in the system for treating life-term prisoners.
"The local gardai never wanted this man out, because they knew what he was capable of," Mrs Glynn said. "Yet they were ignored."
Mrs Glynn said the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, was "putting his own spin" on the report by releasing it at this time. "The Minister has had this report since last April, and on June 27th he said in the Dail that he had considered it and was asking the Director-General of the Prison Service to clarify a number of issues. Why did he pick this particular time to publish when he had it so long?" she asked.
Mr Connaughton has been pressing the Minister on the case since last year and says he intends to study the report this week. "It seems very strange that it should be published only hours after the Dail rose for summer recess," he said.
"The family are entitled to know who took the decision to release Thomas Murray, and for that they deserve a full statement from the Minister."
