By Daniel Keane
The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by Henry Doherty over the Minister for Justice's refusal to treat him as a qualifying prisoner under the accelerated-release arrangements introduced following the Good Friday Agreement.
Doherty was serving sentences in Portlaoise Prison arising from firearm offences to which he pleaded guilty in the Special Criminal Court in 1995. Although he had previously been involved with the IRSP and INLA, the court recorded that he had disassociated himself from those organisations while serving an earlier sentence and that his 1995 offences did not arise from the Northern Ireland situation.
He asked the Minister to refer his case to the Release of Prisoners Commission under the Criminal Justice (Release of Prisoners) Act 1998. The Minister refused, including on the ground that the offences for which Doherty was imprisoned were not committed in connection with Northern Ireland.
The High Court, in a judgment by Mr Justice McKechnie, found that the Minister was entitled to rely on that ground. However, the formal High Court order mistakenly granted certiorari, an order used to quash a public decision, even though that did not reflect the judgment actually delivered. Both sides accepted before the Supreme Court that the appeal should be decided on the basis of the High Court judge's stated reasoning.
Chief Justice Keane held that the 1998 Act left it to the Minister to decide who should be specified as a qualifying prisoner before seeking advice from the Commission. He said the Minister was entitled to consider whether the offences arose from the Northern Ireland conflict that had led to the Good Friday Agreement.
Because Doherty's current sentences related to offences unconnected with that situation, he had no right under the Act to be treated as a qualifying prisoner.
The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, affirmed the High Court judgment and substituted a corrected order dismissing Doherty's applications for habeas corpus, certiorari and declarations.