Tribunal told of Garda reports on alleged collusion

A SENIOR garda has told the Smithwick Tribunal of a Garda intelligence report from the mid- 1980s which suggested that Det Sgt Owen Corrigan of Dundalk station had “a relationship which was not proper” with subversives or their associates.

However Det Chief Supt Peter Kirwan said this was “counter-balanced” by at least one alternative intelligence report which suggested Mr Corrigan was “properly motivated” and delivered “useful intelligence” beneficial to Garda intelligence between 1984 and 1986.

Chief Supt Kirwan, who told the tribunal he spent more than 24 years in the Garda intelligence unit, said he did not believe there was a mole in Dundalk station who had supplied information to the IRA to assist in the killing of RUC officers.

Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan of the RUC were killed in an IRA ambush minutes after leaving a meeting in Dundalk Garda station on March 20th, 1989.

The Smithwick Tribunal is investigating suggestions that one or more members of the Garda in Dundalk colluded with the IRA in the killings.

Chief Supt Kirwan yesterday said an investigation carried out by assistant Garda commissioner Ned O’Dea the day after the killings had “established a timeline” which suggested a phone call from Dundalk station to the IRA would have been unlikely to have given the IRA time to mobilise.

Chief Supt Kirwan said he had assisted in a second Garda inquiry in 2000 which followed the publication of an article in The Irish Times by journalist Kevin Myers and a book, Bandit Country, by journalist and author Toby Harnden.

The 2000 inquiry also followed concerns raised by politicians on both sides of the Irish Sea, including David Trimble, Jeffrey Donaldson, John Bruton, Jim Higgins and Charles Flanagan.

Chief Supt Kirwan said following interviews with the authors of the book and the article, he believed both had involved “a high degree of irresponsible journalism”. He acknowledged the 2000 inquiry had not interviewed the politicians. He said this was because the senior investigating officer, Chief Supt Seán Camon, had determined the political concerns expressed were “commentary” based on the book and article.

However Justin Dillon SC, for the tribunal, put it to Chief Supt Kirwan that not interviewing the politicians was a serious omission, as Mr Higgins had claimed to have the names of two officers in Dundalk who were IRA agents, while Mr Donaldson had named one garda under House of Commons privilege.

Mark Robinson for the PSNI also suggested there had been “errors in judgment” and “missed opportunities” in the initial O’Dea report, in that officers who were in the station on the day of the murders had not been interviewed.