The State has apologised unreservedly in the High Court to a Co Meath man wrongly convicted of the manslaughter of a neighbour more than 40 years ago.
The court heard the State formally acknowledge that the conviction of Martin Conmey for the manslaughter of his 19-year-old neighbour, Una Lynskey, was a miscarriage of justice.
It also heard that the State has agreed to pay "appropriate compensation" to Mr Conmey.
Mr Conmey, who is 65 and from Ratoath, was acquitted in 2010 of the manslaughter of Ms Lynskey.
Her body was discovered in the Dublin mountains around two months after she was last seen getting off a bus near her home at Porterstown Lane in Ratoath in October 1971.
The cause of her death was never determined.
Mr Conmey's acquittal came 38 years after he had been jailed for three years for the offence in 1973.
The Court of Criminal Appeal certified in 2014 that the conviction was a miscarriage of justice.
Mr Conmey brought proceedings seeking compensation.
Mr Justice Seamus Noonan was told today that the case had been settled and could be struck out.
The apology read by lawyers for the State was part of the terms of the settlement.
Reading the statement, Senior Counsel Shane Murphy said the State apologised unreservedly.
He said the State regretted the pain and loss experienced by Mr Conmey as a result of his imprisonment and had taken steps to pay appropriate compensation to him.
In a statement after the hearing, Mr Conmey said he accepted and appreciated the State's apology and thanked his wife and son, family and friends for standing by him.
Mr Conmey and his friend Dick Donnelly were convicted of Ms Lynskey's manslaughter in July 1972.
A third man, Martin Kerrigan, who had also been suspected of being involved, was abducted and killed by Ms Lynskey's brothers Sean and James and her cousin, John Gaughan, nine days after her body was found.
Mr Donnelly won his appeal against his conviction but Mr Conmey's was upheld and he served three years in jail.
