In an unprecedented step this week former UDA boss Johnny Adair was flown out of the country by a British military helicopter to Manchester.
Prison chiefs have explained their decision by claiming that it was necessary to protect Adair's safety and to preserve public order.
And depending on which source you listen to the cost of the door-to-door prison release service being handed out to a man convicted of directing loyalist terrorism amounts to anywhere from £5,000 to £30,000.
And that's for a trip that anyone could get for less than the price of a night out on the town from one of the budget airlines that fly directly out of Belfast.
According to the prison service Adair had no home leave since 1999 after receiving advice from the PSNI because ". . . to have released him, even for a short period, would have posed an unacceptable risk to the community in Northern Ireland."
After that the prison service refused to discuss the arrangements any further.
The money used to fly Adair, who is no longer on licence, was taken from public money and we have every right to demand to know why a man who was given a 16-year prison sentence for directing loyalist terrorism was given the red-carpet treatment on leaving prison this week.
No one wants to see a re-run of the bloodshed of any of the recent loyalist feuds, but the public's money should not and cannot be used to move the likes of Adair in one of the most expensive modes of transport available today, the cost of which, even taking the lowest estimate, is a downright disgrace.
