Brian McNally, one of the three men wrongfully convicted for the Sallins train robbery 50 years ago, has died aged 83.
McNally, who was commended for his “long fight for justice and truth”, died on Saturday surrounded by his family.
He was involved in a long-running campaign for a public inquiry and a State apology, which has to date been unsuccessful.
McNally was one of three men, alongside Nicky Kelly and Osgur Breatnach, to be falsely accused, wrongly convicted and imprisoned for the 1976 robbery in which an estimated £200,000 was stolen near the Co Kildare town.
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The Special Criminal Court had accepted as evidence confessions made by the men, which they insisted had been beaten out of them by gardaí.
“Up to his death, he campaigned for an independent public inquiry into the torture and framing of himself and the other Sallins men and to expose the ongoing state cover-up,” the Sallins Inquiry Now campaign said in a post on social media.
Commenting on his death, Breatnach said McNally spent the “best part of 50 years” dealing with “trauma” while also campaigning for an independent public inquiry.
“The ongoing callousness of the State in colluding in the Sallins Case cover-up inflicts cruel and unusual punishment on the Sallins men, their families and cuts deep trauma into Irish society,” the 75-year-old said in a statement.
Despite the long-running campaign, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan was “satisfied that a public inquiry in relation to these matters is not warranted”, his department said in March, noting various developments, including that convictions had been overturned and financial settlements had been paid.
Expressing condolences following McNally’s death on Saturday, Sinn Féin TD Matt Carthy said it was “deeply regrettable” that the State had not delivered “truth and justice” for him before his death.
He said for 50 years, McNally, Breatnach and Kelly sought “truth and accountability”.
Carthy commended McNally’s “long fight for justice and truth”. He also acknowledged the “tenacity and determination” of Breatnach, who this week was told the State will not oppose his bid to have his wrongful conviction declared a miscarriage of justice.
McNally was sentenced to nine years’ penal servitude, while Breatnach was sentenced to 12, following their wrongful convictions.
Kelly was sentenced to 12 years in absentia, after he fled Ireland and ended up in the US.
McNally and Breathnach were released from prison in 1980 after the appeal court quashed their convictions on the basis that their confessions had been obtained under “oppression”.
The IRA claimed responsibility for the robbery the same year. Kelly received a presidential pardon in 1992.
Speaking to The Irish Times from an assisted-living apartment earlier this year, Kelly said: “I would hate to die in a hospital bed and the cover-up having succeeded.”
