Patrick Ryan (Irish priest)

Patrick Ryan is a defrocked Irish Catholic priest and admitted Provisional IRA arms supplier.

Ryan denied the accusation in an interview with The Tipperary Star, saying that he had raised money both inside and outside Europe for victims on the nationalist side in the Troubles of Northern Ireland.

These devices then become a hallmark of IRA attacks, with fragments found at the 1979 Warrenpoint ambush that killed 18 British soldiers.

[5] The British authorities provided substantial evidence in support of a request for Ryan's extradition from Belgium to face charges in Britain.

[5] Legal argument between the two countries ensued and, following a hunger strike in protest against his possible extradition to Britain, Ryan was, after a court ruling, instead deported to the Republic of Ireland.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher reacted angrily to the court ruling and to Britain's failure to secure the extradition of Patrick Ryan, who was wanted on charges of helping the outlawed IRA.

Thatcher responded: The next day in parliament, Labour MP Tony Benn raised with the Speaker the following point of order: Michael Mates MP was the next to speak: On 1 December 1988, the Attorney General, Sir Patrick Mayhew, asserted that the extradition paperwork sent to Ireland was in order and the government's claim to have Ryan extradited should be acceded to.

[9] The following week, amid exchanges in the House of Commons, opposition leader Neil Kinnock, said Thatcher "blew" the possibility of Ryan's extradition by her "performance."

In October 1989, the Director of Public Prosecutions in Ireland announced that he had decided not to initiate proceedings against Patrick Ryan.