Tribunal told car was taken by garda

AN UNMARKED Garda car which went missing for several hours from the compound at Dundalk station turned out to have been removed by a detective sergeant about whom there was “unease”, the Smithwick tribunal has heard.

Former Garda Supt Tom Connolly told the tribunal it had crossed his mind the disappearance of the car was linked to IRA activity.

Mr Connolly said the car, a Toyota Camry, had been missing for several hours from December 14th to 15th, 1988.

Efforts to contact it by radio had been unsuccessful.

Mr Connolly said Det Sgt Owen Corrigan of Dundalk Garda station, who had since retired, had later admitted he removed the car. Mr Connolly said he did not accept the veracity of all Mr Corrigan’s entries in the book logging the car’s travel details.

He said there were discrepancies between the entries of Mr Corrigan and a fellow officer, and he calculated the Camry had travelled about 273 miles in the hours it was missing.

He said it “crossed my mind” there was a link between the car and the IRA.

Mr Connolly told the tribunal there was “unease” about Mr Corrigan in the station. He agreed with the tribunal barrister that he had sent a contemporaneous report to headquarters complaining that Mr Corrigan “was prone to fabricate pieces of evidence”.

In his contemporaneous report he had said he was not satisfied Mr Corrigan was “a proper officer” or a fit man to lead a unit. Mr Connolly said Mr Corrigan “had a bad reputation among colleagues and general public”.

Mr Connolly told the tribunal yesterday that on one occasion a customs operation was being put in place near Swanlinbar, Co Cavan, when a particular car passed by four times. The car was thought to be scouting the customs operation and was later traced as the personal vehicle of Det Sgt Corrigan.

Mr Connolly said he filed a report on Det Sgt Corrigan’s conduct, and a disciplinary hearing upheld four of nine charges. Det Sgt Corrigan was fined IR£150 for breach of discipline.

Mr Connolly agreed with counsel for Mr Corrigan that many of his complaints were hearsay.

The Smithwick tribunal is investigating suggestions that a garda or gardaí at Dundalk Garda station colluded in the IRA murder of two RUC officers in March 1989. Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan were killed in an ambush in south Armagh minutes after leaving the Dundalk station.