The Government will release the IRA killers of Det Garda Jerry McCabe if the terrorist organisation orders "a complete and total cessation of paramilitarism", leading Government figures have accepted.
Speaking in Dublin , the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said: "While Provisional paramilitarism is a reality, there is no question of the Government considering the release. That message should be understood particularly in the Provisional movement, particularly among its leadership and particularly among the army council. There is no question of us being pushed, shoved or cajoled into that position."
Despite clear evidence to the contrary, the Government insists that it had always said it was prepared to consider the release of the men held in Castlerea Prison in such circumstances.
On Saturday, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said: "What we, in Government, have said is that we will not give consideration to the early release of those prisoners as long as Provisional paramilitarism is involved. That has been the position in Government and until we get to that end position we don't give consideration to it.
"What we have been trying to get to for the last number of years is to get to acts of completion: full, verified acts of completion and the end of paramilitarism."
The Government, he promised, would discuss the issue with the Garda Representative Association and Garda McCabe's widow, Mrs Anne McCabe, if a final agreement to get rid of the IRA was near.
"We have said a number of times that if we come to a position that we find that we are in a closure agreement, and if that was part of that agreement we would then consult with the authorities and, of course, with the McCabe family, and his widow. But we are not at that stage. Unfortunately, I don't think we are near that stage," Mr Ahern said.
However, the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, struck a slightly different tone when she said that the Cabinet had never agreed, even in principle, that the McCabe killers could be freed: "The Progressive Democrats have always taken a strong view.
"In Government over many years, we resisted the release of those killers for Christmas and other periods. That remains our position. That position has not changed.
"The Government has never been asked officially at Cabinet level to release the killers of Jerry McCabe. Sinn Féin have suggested that they should have been covered by the Good Friday agreement. They were not. They are not. I do not envisage circumstances at the moment where the Government could change its position in relation to that matter."
However, she noted remarks made by Det Garda Ben O'Sullivan, who was badly wounded alongside Det Garda McCabe, in yesterday's Sunday Independent in which he appeared to accept that the men could be released as part of a final peace deal.
"The reality is that we have taken a strong view in relation to these people over many years in Government."
Ms Harney went on: "When efforts were made to release them for Christmas, we refused as members of the Government to allow that to happen. That remains our position."
She pointedly noted the findings of the Independent Monitoring Commission, which last month reported that terrorist organisations, such as the IRA, remain active. "Anyone who reads that report will be in no doubt about what continues on this island. For as long as that is the situation I am not going to speculate about what might, or might not, happen in a different situation," she declared.
Former Fine Gael leader and minister for justice, Mr Michael Noonan, accused the Government of "slithering away" from past guarantees that the four men would not be released before time.
