Sir, – It was disappointing to hear Garda Commissioner Callinan criticise the PSNI for failing to co-operate with the Smithwick Tribunal during the course of the tribunal. For it is my belief that the gardaí have failed in their investigation of the murder of one of their own, my father Garda Richard Fallon who died while trying to prevent a bank robbery in April 1970.
In 2010 the Serious Crimes Review Team (SCRT) agreed to my request that it should review the investigation of my father’s murder. This kind of SCRT review is not a full investigative review but one in which the investigation and intelligence files along with the case evidence are re-examined. At the beginning of the SCRT review the investigation file of the case was unavailable to the investigators for at least six months. Later in the process it appears that much of the other documentation generated in the aftermath of the murder is unavailable, presumably lost or destroyed in the interim. Remarkably, it now appears the case evidence has also been lost. I have found all of this to be an astounding and saddening exposure of the lack of regard that An Garda Síochána and the State have for their responsibilities to my father, a loyal servant who gave his life for his country.
While the gardaí are able to confirm the evidence and file losses to me behind closed doors, they will not acknowledge these astonishing losses in public. It is clear from my experience that An Garda Síochána, contrary to the recent statements by the Garda Commissioner, remains more concerned about protecting its institutional standing rather than exposing the truth. The Garda Síochána also told a member of the Oireachtas that the SCRT review would be finished by the middle of this year and yet it has still to terminate the investigation and produce its report.
I note that Diarmaid McGuinness, counsel for An Garda Síochána, accused the PSNI of failing the Breen and Buchanan families. I have been claiming for many years that the Irish Government may have had some responsibility in the murder of my father and in protecting those responsible in its aftermath. The public record shows that a member of Saor Éire, supposedly responsible for my father’s death, and a family member of a government minister of the day, were seen together in London in the late 1960s, presumably attempting to procure arms. It remains for the Irish Government to do anything concrete whatsoever to disprove my allegations, which I would be happy to see refuted after a thorough examination. I will again ask that the Government undertake an independent review of this matter.
It is now over three years since this “preliminary” SCRT review of unavailable files and lost evidence began. I am sad to say that An Garda Síochána have failed the family of Garda Richard Fallon. – Yours, etc,
FINIAN FALLON,
Wards Hill, Dublin 8.