JAIL GRUB ROW

around this country with an empty chair in place of a loved one thanks to IRA violence.

“The prison authority in Ireland is making a rod for their own back. And for victims to hear that the perpetrators of such evil are being pandered to like this will be distressing and shocking.

“At a time when law-abiding people are struggling to get by, using food from food banks, choosing between heating and eating, the idea of these prisoners being pandered to is sickening.”

The controversy unfolded last Sunday when the republican prisoners told staff they wanted: takeaways from Burger King food from the nearby Killeshin Hotel in Co Laois, or

fresh food brought in and cooked in the staff rather than the inmates’ kitchens.

Prison Officers’ Association spokesman John Clinton said: “Remarkably they were appeased as staff were sent out to buy food for them, which was then cooked in the staff kitchen and delivered to them on the landing.”

But that wasn’t good enough for the prisoners who kicked up a fuss again saying the sausages from the staff canteen weren’t cooked properly and were frozen. In a statement, Mr Clinton said: “They claimed, without justification, the prison kitchen was contaminated through the management of food waste – this led to a stand-off.”

Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan died in the Omagh bomb, said: “These are the very lowest of society and, if anything, they should have fewer privileges.”