KEY DECISIONS about Ms Roisin McAliskey and her unborn baby are likely to be taken at a meeting in London next Thursday amid the first serious signs of Conservative unrest about the handling of her case.
Ms McAliskey's supporters appear increasingly confident she will be allowed to keep her baby with her while awaiting the outcome of extradition proceedings brought by the German authorities.
The Irish Times understands decisions about arrangements for Ms McAliskey's confinement, or about the subsequent care of her child, are likely to be taken on Thursday at a meeting of a multi-agency panel, comprising representatives of Social Services, the Probation Service, Holloway Prison, and a doctor.
It is understood the prison authorities are also considering a request that Ms McAliskey's solicitor, Ms Gareth Peirce, be permitted to attend that meeting.
Meanwhile, pressure on the British political authorities over their conduct of her case increased last night with the dramatic intervention of a senior Conservative MP. Mr Andrew Hunter, chairman of the Conservative backbench committee on Northern Ireland, wrote to the Home Secretary, Mr Michael Howard, and the Northern Secretary Sir Patrick Mayhew, calling for "sufficient flexibility" in the remand regime "to provide appropriate treatment for Ms McAliskey".
Mr Hunter's intervention reflects mounting concern in Conservative circles at a public relations debacle now threatening disaster. In his letter Mr Hunter stressed that the charges against Ms McAliskey were "very serious indeed" and said there should be "no compromise of principle" or concessions to Sinn Fein. But he told them backbenchers were increasingly concerned about the case and "we hope the remand regime is sufficiently flexible to provide appropriate treatment for Ms McAliskey, bearing in mind her condition".
Mr Hunter told The Irish Times he personally "would have no objection to bail, or to Ms McAliskey's transfer to a prison in Northern Ireland". But he said his primary concern was that full and appropriate medical facilities should be made available to her.