Release of McCabe killers is 'off the table', says Ahern

[RogueTrooper]

The Irish Times
snip...
The Taoiseach has said the question of the early release of the killers of Det Garda Jerry McCabe is not only "off the table" but he does not "see it coming back on the table" again in future talks.

In the Dáil yesterday Mr Ahern also said the report of the Independent Monitoring Commission, to be published tomorrow, goes further than he has ever gone in blaming the IRA for the Northern Bank raid.

And in a downbeat assessment of the prospects for progress, he said he did not "see a way of getting the < required> trust and confidence at present".

His comments on the McCabe killers yesterday afternoon appeared to signal a hardening of the Government's position on this issue. His position has consistently been that the issue is "off the table". This leaves open the prospect that it could come back on to the table again if a power-sharing deal in the North was in sight.
...snip

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/front/2005/0209/3926475054HM1NORTH.html