Nessan Quinlivan is a former Provisional IRA member who escaped from Brixton Prison in London on 7 July 1991 along with his cellmate Pearse McAuley

Pearse McAuley

Pearse McAuley is a former Provisional IRA Volunteer, who escaped from Brixton Prison in London on 7 July 1991 along with his cellmate Nessan Quinlivan, while awaiting trial on charges relating to a suspected IRA plot to assassinate a former brewery company chairman, Sir Charles Tidbury.McAuley...

, while awaiting trial on charges relating to a suspected IRA

Provisional Irish Republican Army

The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...

 plot to assassinate a former brewery company chairman, Sir Charles Tidbury.

In April 1993, he was arrested in Ireland, on firearms charges, and was sentenced to four years in prison. In November 1996, he was released from Portlaoise Prison

Portlaoise Prison

Portlaoise Prison is the Republic of Ireland's only high security prison. It is located in Portlaoise, County Laois. It should not be confused with the Midlands Prison, which is a newer, medium security prison situated directly beside it....

 as part of the Irish Government's early release programme for Republican prisoners.

In April 2000, the High Court stated that he should be extradited

Extradition

Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...

 to Britain, to face charges of conspiracy to murder and to cause explosions as well as escaping from prison and wounding with intent. Quinlivan claimed that it would be pointless to extradite him, because under the terms of the Belfast Agreement

Belfast Agreement

The Good Friday Agreement or Belfast Agreement , sometimes called the Stormont Agreement, was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process...

, he would have had to be freed by July 2001.

In August 2009, the Crown Prosecution Service

Crown Prosecution Service

The Crown Prosecution Service, or CPS, is a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for public prosecutions of people charged with criminal offences in England and Wales. Its role is similar to that of the longer-established Crown Office in Scotland, and the...

 in Britain, announced it was no longer seeking the extradition of Quinlivan and McAuley.

His brother, Maurice, is a Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

 Councillor for Limerick city. In early 2009 the arrest of three women, who were running a brothel in an apartment he owned and was renting to them unknowingly, triggered a series of events

Willie O'Dea affidavit controversy

The Willie O'Dea affidavit controversy or Brothelgate refers to a 2010 political controversy in Ireland surrounding former Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea....

 that would lead to the resignation of the Minister of Defence Willie O'Dea

Willie O'Dea

Willie O'Dea is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician and a Teachta Dála for the Limerick City constituency. He served as the Minister for Defence from September 2004 until 18 February 2010, when he resigned from his post due to controversy over a defamation case.-Early and private life:O'Dea was born...

.