10/30/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/30/2024 10:09
President Michael D. Higgins this afternoon signed two Presidential Pardons at an event in Áras an Uachtaráin for Mr Sylvester Poff and Mr James Barrett, who were executed in Tralee Gaol on 23 January 1883.
In line with articles 13.6 and 13.9 of the Constitution, the pardons have been granted following a recommendation by Government. This recommendation took account of a report by Dr Niamh Howlin, Associate Professor at the UCD Sutherland School of Law, which found that the trials and conviction of Poff and Barrett included legal and procedural deficiencies which were 'so inconsistent with the legal standards of the period and so objectively unsatisfactory and unfair, that they render the conviction unsafe'.
Today's ceremony was attended by the Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys TD. Also in attendance were relatives of Sylvester Poff (aged 38 at the times of his execution) and James Barrett (aged 24), including Mr Poff's great grandson Tomo Burke, as well as representatives of the Castleisland District Heritage Group, a group based in Kerry who have raised awareness of the case and worked with the Department of Justice on the pardon process.
President Higgins said:
"The case of Sylvester Poff and James Barrett has been one of long standing concern for the people of Kerry. As Dr Niamh Howlin's report has found, there was a strong local belief in the innocence of Poff and Barrett, both before and after their execution. The newspaper United Ireland reported that 'From one end of the county to the other the strongest belief prevails that they were guiltless.' This was also evident in the memorials submitted to the Lord Lieutenant from bodies including the Tralee Town Commissioners, the Tralee Poor Law Guardians, the Killarney Town Commissioners and the Listowel Town Commissioners before the executions seeking to have their sentences commuted.
While we at this remove cannot undo what happened, we do have the power to acknowledge that what happened to Sylvester Poff and James Barrett was a great wrong. I am pleased to be able to formally grant a Presidential Pardon to each of the men today, and to at least set the record straight. I hope that my doing so will bring a sense of closure to their families following almost 142 years.
I commend the families of both men and the members of the Castleisland District Heritage Group for their efforts to bring their case to public attention and their help in bringing the process of obtaining a pardon to fruition."
Today's Presidential Pardons are only the seventh and eighth such pardons which have been granted and the fourth and fifth posthumous pardons. The previous posthumous pardons were awarded by President Higgins to Harry Gleeson in 2015, to Maolra Seoighe (Myles Joyce) in 2018 and to John Twiss in 2021.
Notes to Editors:
Details of case
Expert report
"A twenty-first century criminal court would not convict Poff and Barrett on the basis of the evidence which was presented by the Crown in 1882. The convictions were also inconsistent with the legal standards of the period.
"They were convicted on the basis of evidence which was both circumstantial and weak. The trials and conviction of Poff and Barrett included legal and procedural deficiencies which were 'so inconsistent with the legal standards of the period and so objectively unsatisfactory and unfair, that they render the conviction unsafe."