The four members of the Balcombe Street Gang and the convicted IRA terrorist, Paul Magee, will be repatriated to Ireland within days. The decision was immediately denounced by the UUP, which said the move would speed up the date of their release from prison. Edward Butler, Henry Duggan, Hugh Doherty, Joe O'Connell and Paul Magee were told yesterday that the British Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, had agreed to their request for repatriation under the terms of the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners.
The men will be repatriated "shortly" to serve out the remainder of their sentences in Ireland. Under the terms of the Belfast Agreement, they will be eligible for release within two years. However, ahead of the May 22nd referendum, they will serve their sentences under the terms of the Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners Act.
This means they can be held in prison for the remainder of their sentences or can apply for "conversion" of their sentences to substitute the original 35-year life term with the 20-year life sentence in Irish law.
Asked if the men would be eligible for release within two years, a Department of Justice spokesman said the case was "very sensitive" and refused to comment further.
The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, has welcomed the transfer of the prisoners from Britain as a "positive development". "It helps to underpin the peace process. And I welcome it," Mr O'Donoghue said. Tariffs would have to be set, specifying how long the men would have to serve in Irish prisons. This would be necessary in order to "respect the integrity of sentences handed down in the British courts".
Mr O'Donoghue said the programme of prisoner releases would be regulated by a review process, to "take account of the seriousness of offences".
He repeated his assertion that anybody found guilty of the murder of Det Garda Jerry McCabe would remain outside the scope of the agreement.
The question of prisoners was crucial to the Belfast Agreement, Mr O'Donoghue said. And it would involve "certain painful decisions" at the "beginning of what is going to be a very difficult process", he said.
The Balcombe Street Gang - as they became known after a five-day siege in London in 1975 - received 47 life sentences between them in 1977. Doherty, who was then 26, was given 11 life sentences and an additional 139 years for other terrorist-related crimes.
Butler, and Duggan and O'Connell, who later admitted responsibility for the Woolwich and Guildford pub bombings in 1974, each received 12 life sentences and another 159 years each for eight more terrorist crimes.
Paul Magee was sentenced to life in 1993 for the murder of special police constable Mr Glenn Goodman, while on the run from prison in Northern Ireland.
The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, welcomed the transfer, saying it should have happened some time ago as the men had already served 23 years in prison. The UUP MP, Mr Willie Thompson, condemned the decision, saying it had saved ["]He will hope that when they get out it will not be noticed as much as in England...I think any right thinking democrat would be opposed to that,["] Mr Thompson said.
Fianna Fail's spokeswoman on prisoner affairs, Ms Cecilia Keaveney, welcomed the decision saying it was a "tremendous relief" for the prisoners and their families.
But the family of Mr Goodman said they felt "insulted and ignored" by the British government in allowing Magee to be repatriated.
Mr Goodman's father, Brian, said: "It makes us feel so angry. We feel totally let down by this Blair government . . . these people have been tried and convicted and sentenced for something as diabolical as murder, and they should be serving their sentence as they were sentenced." Mr Goodman's widow, Ms Fiona Goodman, said Magee's repatriation would not help the peace process. "I'm very angry and devastated that the government has done this."
The policeman who negotiated the surrender of the Balcombe Street Gang in 1975 said their transfer to the Republic was "inevitable" and "right and proper".
Sir Peter Imbert, who became Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said the gang had served 22 years in jail and probably now felt remorse for their crimes.