Man granted permission to challenge temporary release refusal

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

A man convicted of incest was granted permission on 9 December 2024 to pursue a High Court action over the refusal of temporary release. Ms Justice Mary Rose Gearty adjourned the matter to January.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was convicted by a jury after a five-day trial of incest involving his estranged daughter, with whom he fathered a son. In January 2023, Judge Patrick Quinn sentenced him at Dundalk Circuit Criminal Court to 10 years in prison, with the final year suspended for 10 years on condition that he have no contact with his daughter during that period.

The court heard that DNA evidence made it 23 million times more likely that the boy was the son of the man and his daughter than her son with another male. Defence counsel said the man did not accept the jury’s verdict and asked the court to consider that his DNA was fundamentally the only evidence of paternity.

The court also heard that he had been jailed for six years for rape by the Central Criminal Court in 1996 and for three and a half years for sexual assault by Dundalk Circuit Court in 2003.

The man applied for temporary release in September 2023. He says the application was refused, that subsequent requests for reasons were unsuccessful, and that a prison officer orally told him the refusal was due to the nature of his conviction. He claims he has a chronic infected knee wound and requires medical attention, including inpatient care.

His action seeks reasons for the refusal and declarations concerning the decision and the Minister for Justice’s discretion. His barrister, Kathleen Leader SC, told the High Court there was no presumptive temporary release for some offences, but no prohibition on release in his case.