Two men have been recommended for a posthumous presidential pardon more than 140 years after they were executed after being wrongfully convicted of murder without direct evidence.
Sylvester Poff and James Barrett were convicted of the murder of Thomas Browne in October 1882 and were both executed in January 1883.
However, an expert report said that they should be pardoned given that their convictions were unsafe.
On Tuesday, Justice Minister Helen McEntee said she had secured Government approval to recommend the men for the granting of pardons by President Michael D Higgins.
The Department of Justice said a presidential pardon should only be offered in the most deserving of circumstances.
Ms McEntee said: “This is a very rare occurrence and a very high bar must be reached for the Government to recommend to the president that he exercise this right.
She added: “Both men were wrongfully convicted and suffered the harshest penalty under the law of the time in what can now be attributed to a miscarriage of justice.”
There was frequent agitation for land reform in 1880s Ireland – which often included agrarian violence – over landlords, evictions, rent strikes and boycotts.
In May 1882, Lord Frederick Cavendish, the chief secretary, and his under secretary, T.H. Burke were murdered in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.
Their murders were the catalyst for a legislative response to growing agrarian unrest.
The Prevention of Crime (Ireland) Act 1882 (1882 Act) was a piece of coercive legislation passed in July 1882 in the aftermath to clamp down on crimes such as “treason, murder, arson, attacks on dwelling-houses and crimes of aggravated violence”.
Co Kerry, and the area around Castleisland in particular, was experiencing a great deal of unrest and violence during this period.
On October 3 1882, Mr Browne was murdered while working in one of his fields in Dromulton, near Scartaglin in Co Kerry.
Two men in dark coats, seen from behind, shot him several times.
Mr Poff and Mr Barrett, who did not match the descriptions of the assailants, were known to be in the vicinity at the time.
The two men were arrested following a statement by a neighbour that they had seen them enter the field where Mr Browne was shot.
The prosecution case largely rested on the evidence of a neighbour, whose story changed as the case progressed and who could not be regarded as a reliable witness.
The men were tried twice before special juries in Cork for the murder of Mr Browne after the jury in the first trial failed to reach agreement on a verdict.
The two men were ultimately convicted in December 1882 and despite petitions for mercy to the Lord Lieutenant, they were hanged in Tralee Gaol in January 1883.
Dr Niamh Howlin, an expert in 19th century trial law and an Associate Professor in the Sutherland School of Law, UCD, was asked by the Department of Justice to undertake an independent external review of this case.
Dr Howlin’s examination concluded that a number of factors, including in the investigation and procedures around the trial, led her to form the opinion that the convictions were unsafe.
These factors included a “packed jury”, deficiencies in evidence including conflicting witness testimony, no motive and that other lines of inquiry appear to have been neglected during the investigation and trial.
In addition, the report found that there was no direct evidence against Mr Poff and Mr Barrett, with the case resting on the circumstantial and contradictory evidence of one witness.