Dessie became active in the Republican struggle from the age of 16 and one of his Officers Commanding in the IRA was John Francis Green, later assassinated by Captain Robert Nairac.

Dessie was jailed for life in 1988 and is currently the O/C of the INLA prisoners in Castlerea Prison. He has endorsed and fully accepted the INLA ceasefire. That statement said among other things:

"That the conditions for armed struggle do not exist".

"We acknowledge and admit faults and grievous errors in our prosecution of the war".

"Innocent people were killed and injured and at times our actions as a liberation army fell far short of what they should have been. For this we as Republicans, as Socialists, and as Revolutionaries do offer a sincere, heartfelt, and genuine apology".

Organisations which are on ceasefire are entitled to the early release of its members under the Good Friday Agreement, which says that all political prisoners convicted of offences committed before April 1998 should be released. Dessie O'Hare was not released.

The Irish government has refused to free him in contravention of the Good Friday Agreement even though Dessie was a leader of the INLA at the time of the kidnap. Indeed the former Minister for Justice, Equality, and Law Reform, Mr John O'Donoghue, has publicly stated, "He is a qualifying prisoner".

The GFA in its entirety includes the early release of 'qualifying prisoners' meaning those prisoners whose organisations are 'maintaining a complete and unequivocal cease-fire'. Dessie O'Hare is such a prisoner who has been denied the benefits of the early release scheme as laid down in Annex B, Section 2 of the Agreement which the Irish electorate voted for.

Dessie has been demonised by the media and by certain politicians who labelled him the "Border Fox". He has been seen by experts at the request of the Irish government in an attempt to keep him imprisoned on the grounds of his mental state. They could find no such grounds for his continuing incarceration but this was an attempt to emulate the tactics of Stalinist USSR in labelling opponents of that regime 'mad'.

Dessie's "crime", if 'crime' it was, was to be an active Republican. His co-accused, Edward Hogan and Fergal Toal, have already been released under the Agreement even though they were convicted of the same offence.

Dessie is being victimised, discriminated against, and demonised by the state authorities. And yet his activities were no different from those of hundreds of others released under the GFA. We will, over the coming weeks, be stepping up our campaign, where pickets and protests will be placed on constituency offices and private residences of those politicians who are charged with enacting the Agreement in its entirety but who have failed to acknowledge the democratic will of the people.

Dessie O'Hare is no different from hundreds if not thousands of Republicans. He played his part in the struggle. It is now time he was released. The governments started releasing the first POWs under the terms of the GFA four years ago and Dessie is beginning his 24th year behind prison bars. Dessie has been in jail continuously since 1979 (with one year's exception, 1987) and in all of them 23 years he hasn't been given a single days temporary release despite many family tragedies including the death of his father (RIP).

The case of Dessie raises issues over and above either the personality or deeds of Dessie O'Hare. Fundamentally it goes to the heart of the Good Friday Agreement. We in this campaign have been skeptical about that Agreement but we say now implement not just the spirit but also the letter of the GFA. Carry out the wishes of the Irish people and release Dessie O'Hare now!!!

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Free Dessie O'Hare Campaign: http://www.irsm.org/irsp/free_dessie/

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