I refer to the article published in the Sunday Tribune on 25 October 2009 titled "Surge in drugs and violence at Castlerea Prison after IRA releases".

In the article it states inter alia, that the killers of Garda Jerry McCabe – Pearse McAuley and Kevin Walsh – released in August, had been "ruling the roost". It also states that Pearse McAuley and Kevin Walsh had maintained a semblance of order among inmates in the Grove. These statements are wholly untrue and should be corrected with immediate effect.

The actual position is that the Grove effectively operates as an open prison within the main secure facility. Prisoners selected to serve their sentences in the Grove area are hand-picked by prison management. Therefore, incidents of any type in the Grove are generally rare, either while the PIRA were there or since they left. Random drug tests are continually carried out and to date we have not had a single positive result for drug use from prisoners in the Grove.

Brian Purcell

Director General, Irish Prison Service.