MY FORMAL CHALLENGE TO THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Yesterday I published the Irish Department of Justice’s formal denial of my request for an independent historical review of the 1882 convictions of Michael Flynn, Thomas Higgins and Patrick Higgins.

I also told you that I did not accept that denial without challenging it.

Today, as promised, I am publishing my response.

The Department relied on the Government’s new March 2026 policy excluding pre-1922 convictions from consideration for Presidential Pardons.

But that did not answer the central question I had raised:

Why can the surviving historical evidence itself not be independently examined?

My request was never simply for the Government to declare these men innocent or issue pardons without examination. I asked for an independent review of the evidence.

In my response, I challenged the Department to explain why a policy governing Presidential Pardons should also prevent independent examination of surviving evidence from an alleged miscarriage of justice.

I also placed the Government’s own recent record directly before them.

In 2024, the 1882 convictions of Sylvester Poff and James Barrett were independently examined before the Government recommended Presidential Pardons.

So I asked the question that still needs an answer:

Why should convictions from 1882 and 1883 that could previously have been considered individually now be denied even independent examination because of a policy adopted in March 2026?

The document attached to this update is my actual response to the Department.

Read it for yourself.

Tomorrow, I will publish the legal and constitutional addendum I subsequently submitted, where I took this challenge further and asked the Department to identify the legal authority behind applying this policy as a blanket barrier to pre-1922 cases.

And I am not stopping there.

I am now exploring legal resources and support, because I believe the next step may very well be taking this challenge to Ireland’s High Court.

I know that is a significant step, especially from across the Atlantic, but I did not come this far to stop because the Department told me no.

I don’t back down that easily, folks.

They told me no.

I asked them to show me the law.

Now we’ll see where this goes.

 Please keep sharing.

Don’t Silence the Evidence.

Erin Flynn
Founder, The Pre-1922 Justice Project