Michael McKevitt (65) has spent the past number of weeks on temporary release at his home in Blackrock, Co Louth, but he has now been formally released after his sentence expired on Sunday.

McKevitt, who has been diagnosed with cancer, was released from Portlaoise Prison where he served his sentence for directing terrorism, as well as being convicted of membership of an illegal organisation after being convicted in the Special Criminal Court in August 2003. The Real IRA bomb killed 29 people and unborn twins on August 15, 1998.              

In a statement to the media, McKevitt was one of the four men found liable for the Omagh bombing in a civil action at Belfast High Court taken by relatives of the dead, has denied having anything to do the bombing: “I had no involvement in the bombing whatsoever. I was stitched-up from the outset. Within days of the bombing, I said that I had no hand, act or part in the bombing and that remains my position.”