NAMES IN THE NEWS : Irish Official Weds IRA Veteran

Irish government minister Pat Gallagher has married a woman who spent nine years in a British jail on Irish Republican Army bomb-plot charges.

Gallagher married former IRA prisoner Ann Gillespie on Wednesday at a church near their homes in Donegal, northwest Ireland.

Gillespie and her sister Eileen were jailed for 15 years in 1975 for conspiring to cause explosions and possessing explosives. The trial judge called them “sinister and evil IRA bombers.” The IRA is fighting to oust Britain from Northern Ireland.

While the sisters were in jail, Gallagher campaigned actively to have them transferred to Ireland to complete their sentences. They were released five years ago.

When their romance was first revealed in February, Gallagher said: “Ann is a very nice girl and she has suffered enough. She served nine years in prison and now deserves a chance of a normal life.”