BRENDAN Dowd, the prisoner who was named at his trial 20 years ago as the IRA's main organiser in Britain, was transferred to Portlaoise prison yesterday.
The British authorities handed Dowd to the custody of Irish prison officers at Stansted airport from where he was taken to Dublin airport and on to Portlaoise.
Announcing the transfer from Whitemoor, the Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, said he was the third Irish prisoner to have been returned to serve his sentence in Ireland under the terms of the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Act, 1995.
Dowd (47), originally from Co Kerry, is serving a life sentence since May, 1976, for three counts of attempted murder and other offences.
Several months after his trial, Dowd told the solicitors for the Guildford Four that his active service unit was responsible for those bombings and that the Guildford Four were innocent. The Appeal Court judges ruled the Guildford Four must have been part of Dowd's active service unit and dismissed the appeal.
Last September, Dowd and four other convicted IRA terrorists won a historic victory at the Court of Appeal in London when a judge condemned the British Home Secretary, Mr Michael Howard, for his "unreasonable and unlawful" treatment of them by delaying their parole rights.
Dowd's transfer was welcomed by Labour TDs Mr Joe Costello, Mr Tommy Broughan and Mr Declan Bree and by Senator Sean Maloney last night. They said five other prisoners were awaiting a decision on their transfer requests, which were made at the same time as Paddy Kelly and Dowd.
Senator Dan Neville, Fine Gael's Seanad spokesman on justice, said Dowd's transfer would assist in moving the peace process forward. He also called for the transfer of Padraic MacFhloinn who was suffering from Crohn's Disease and was receiving inadequate treatment.
Maol Muire Tynan, Political Reporter, adds:
A Sinn Fein spokeswoman has said it was of no great political significance that Sinn Fein's vice president, Mr Pat Doherty, had been allowed to visit all nine republican prisoners in Full Sutton jail in England.
The Department of Foreign Affairs assisted in Mr Doherty's request to the British Home Office for a visit to the prisoners, one of whom is his brother, Hugh Doherty. Saying nothing should be read into the visit, the Sinn Fein spokeswoman said the visit had been requested before the party's confirmation that it would accept the six Mitchell principles.
It is good that he can visit all the prisoners now but it is a pity it did not happen before," she said.
Before leaving for Full Sutton, Mr Doherty said while the repatriation of Dowd was welcome, conditions for Irish inmates in British prisons had continued to deteriorate.
