The Taoiseach has denied that he told Sinn Féin during the negotiation of the Good Friday Agreement that all IRA prisoners would be released.
The claims were made by Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams, who said Bertie Ahern told him he 'fully understood' that all IRA prisoners, including the killers of Garda Jerry McCabe, would have to be released.
Mr Adams was in Dublin today to launch his party's local election campaign in the capital, but once again media attention was focused on accusations from the Justice Minister about IRA criminality.
Mr Adams said that he had no doubt that some Republicans may have fallen by the wayside, but in his view the IRA was not involved in criminality.
He directly contradicted the Government's repeated assertion that Sinn Féin was told that the killers of Jerry McCabe would not benefit from early release under the Good Friday Agreement.
Mr Adams said he got a different impression in a one-to-one meeting with the Taoiseach. The matter was then raised in the Dáil by Fine Gael.
The Taoiseach's denial that he ever said Garda McCabe's killers would be released is consistent with the Government's line over the past six years.
