Killings in 90 minutes unviable, tribunal told

A RETIRED Garda chief superintendent has told the Smithwick Tribunal he does not believe the assassination of two RUC officers could have been carried out with 90 minutes’ notice.

Former chief supt Michael Staunton told the tribunal visits by RUC chief supt Bob Buchanan to Dundalk and other Border Garda stations were a regular event in early 1989. He said Mr Buchanan’s red Northern-registered car, a Vauxhall Cavalier, would have been a notable sight as it travelled across rural, unapproved Border crossings, or when parked outside Dundalk Garda station.

The tribunal has heard Mr Buchanan and RUC chief supt Harry Breen arrived at Dundalk Garda station at about 2.30pm on March 20th, 1989 and having left about an hour later were ambushed and killed on the Edenappa Road in south Armagh just before 4pm.

Mr Staunton said even with good surveillance in place, he believed it unlikely the IRA would have been able to mobilise an assassination unit, take guns and other equipment out of hiding and be on the right road, at the right time, to mount the ambush, all within 90 minutes.

It was more likely considerable planning would have gone into the ambush, and he did not believe the IRA would have needed collusion on the part of gardaí.

Mr Staunton said he never discussed personal security arrangements with Mr Buchanan, who was the most frequent visitor of the two murdered policemen. Mr Staunton told Justin Dillon SC, for the tribunal, he did not believe the RUC officer took sufficient care for his personal safety, and should have had a greater awareness of the security risks involved.

He said the Edenappa Road on which the killings took place was a “no-go area” controlled by the IRA where only local traffic would go. “I thought that he would come to the station in a casual way and not do it in a way which exposed him to risks that I thought were unwise . . . I did not see any great concern for his own safety.”

Tribunal hearings resume on Tuesday.