Micheal McAleavey, from west Belfast, has already served almost 24 years. In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Tribune in Mountjoy, McAleavey said he cannot understand why the authorities in the Republic won't repatriate him to Maghaberry jail in Co Antrim.

McAleavey was jailed for the murder of Corporal Gregory Morrow, Private Peter Burke, and Private Thomas Murphy, on UN peace-keeping duty in 1982. An argument had erupted with McAleavey complaining that Jews were waved through checkpoints, while Arabs were stopped and searched.

In the interview, McAleavey claimed conditions in Mountjoy were 'intolerable", and that the authorities "have lost all control of the prison". He added: "All I am asking is to be moved close to my family in Belfast. They're all I have left.

My father is 76 years old. He has serious heart problems. I haven't seen him in 12 years.

He has been too ill to travel to Dublin."

Of the triple murder, he said: "I've had 25 years of playing it over and over in my headf I did what I'd been trained to do, to kill efficiently and without mercy."

If his latest request for repatriation is refused, McAleavey's solicitor will seek a judicial review. McAleavey has served almost twice the normal sentence for murder.

In 1993, former justice minister Maire Geoghegan-Quinn recommended that he was prepared for release in 1998.

But the dead soldiers' families, and the Permanent Defence Force Other Ranks Representative Association (PDFORRA), have previously objected to his release and repatriation.

McAleavey claimed that tabloid newspapers, opposed to his release, had "dictated policy" to the last two justice ministers: "What chance have I with an election next year?

I'm effectively a political prisoner."

McAleavey first requested repatriation six years ago. Joe Rice, the North's leading criminal lawyer, said: "Our requests have been met with a Kafkesque concoction of hints, nudges and winks which are inexplicable to my client and his solicitor. He meets all the criteria. He has been a model prisoner. He accepts complete moral culpability for what he did. All his psychiatric reports have been positive." Rice is finally expecting a decision on McAleavey's repatriation by the end of this month.

SEE ALSO TRIBUNE REVIEW