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The convicted drug dealer John Gilligan has been released from prison this morning having spent almost 17 years in jail, most of it serving a 20-year term for drugs.
The 61-year-old originally from Ballyfermot, Dublin, left maximum security Portlaoise Prison at 9.35am.
He walked through large wooden doors at the jail to a waiting silver Ford Mondeo parked just yards away driven by two associates.
The vehicle had been permitted by the prison authorities to drive onto the prison campus through the main vehicle entrance for the purposes of parking right beside the wooden door where Gilligan walked out.
It meant Gilligan could get into the car while still on the prison campus and did not need to walk past the media waiting outside the main gates onto the public road.
He says he had nothing to do with the Veronica Guerin murder. Vincent Browne last night on tv3 said he had an idea of what criminal was actually responsible for it and that it probably wasn't Gilligan but he wouldn't go on to name anyone about it.
Thoughts?