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Double killer John Gallagher has been released from the Central Mental Hospital.
The Mental Health Review Board granted a conditional discharge more than six weeks after he handed himself in.
Gallagher killed his girlfriend Anne Gillespie, 22, and her mother Annie, 51, in the grounds of Sligo hospital in 1988.
He was found guilty but insane at his trial a year later and sent to the Central Mental Hospital. But he fled to England in 2000 while on day release.
Gallagher handed himself back in to the Central Mental Hospital early last month.
A spokeswoman for Justice Minister Alan Shatter said he understands that Gallagher has been granted a conditional discharge.
"The board is independent of the minister," she said. "The minister has no role in decisions made by the board under the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act, 2006, and as such it would be inappropriate to comment further."
Gallagher, from Lifford, Co Donegal, was 22 when he killed the women after he learnt Anne planned to break off their relationship. He returned to Ireland in 2003 and set up home in Strabane in Co Tyrone in 2003 - just across the border in Northern Ireland and not far from his victim's family.
He could not be arrested by gardai but his extradition to the Republic was never sought because, under the law, he was never convicted of a crime.
The board has been assessing the case since he handed himself in.
