Fionnán Sheehan

It was made very clear to the Sinn Féin leadership that these guys could not be taken in under the ambit of the Good Friday Agreement and released accordingly from prison.

It was still very fresh and the fury in Limerick was reignited and indeed throughout the country.

And meanwhile, as you say, Sinn Féin had their own difficulties because their initial reaction when this rebounded upon them.

happened, Sinn Féin were actually trying to work things back towards another ceasefire, towards more meaningful talks.

It took 13 months for that to happen.

The second IRA ceasefire was in July 1997.

Meanwhile, on the further side of things, you had signals from Belfast and London saying, what are you doing to us?

Are you trying to say that Agartha's life is more precious than that of a British service person, be it police or soldier?

And what about all the people in the RUC particularly who were maimed and crippled in bombs and so on?

So this one went round in circles.

Yeah, and again, frequently became contentious, most notably in 2009 when Pierce McCauley and Kevin Walsh, they're released from Castlebury Prison and who greets them at the door and transports them away?

Only Martin Ferris, Sinn Féin TD.

So again, those blurred lines between Sinn Féin, the IRA, the activities of the provisional IRA, it all comes centre stage again.

Absolutely.

And you come right back, as you say, yes.

And one of them, at least, Martin Ferris from Phoenix and County Kerry, goes to Castlereagh Prison in Roscommon.

By the way, the very fact, their conditions of their detention, why weren't they in Portlaoise with the other paramilitary subversives?

the answer was they were getting very special treatment.

They lived in a bungalow in a sort of compound in a castlery prison in Roscommon.

Lots of takeaway food, temporary release, these sort of things happening that would not normally have happened to sort of make a bridge in the whole thing.