Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy may be aware, yesterday I secured Government approval to recommend to President Higgins to grant a posthumous presidential pardon to Mr Sylvester Poff and Mr James Barrett. This decision was made based on a number of factors in this case, and based upon the detailed Report received from Dr Niamh Howlin.

On the basis of these considerations, myself and my Government colleagues have decided to recommend to the President that he exercise his right to pardon, contained in Article 13.6 of the Constitution, on the grounds their convictions were unsafe by the standards of the time.

Both men were wrongfully convicted and suffered the harshest penalty under the law of the time in what can now be attributed to a miscarriage of justice.