Solicitor defends Smithwick Tribunal

Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan, who were murdered in an ambush just over the border after leaving Dundalk Garda Station in 1989

A solicitor for the family of an RUC officer whose murder was found by the Smithwick Tribunal to be linked to Garda collusion with the IRA has launched a strong defence of the inquiry’s findings.

His statement comes after three former Dundalk Gardaí – retired det chief supt John O’Brien, former chief supt Michael Finnegan and former chief supt Michael Staunton, claimed the tribunal’s finding is not grounded in facts and should be rejected by the Government “as a matter of urgency and justice”.

However, John McBurney, solicitor for the family of murdered RUC officer Harry Breen, says the gardaí’s critique is highly selective, filled with errors and displays a lack of familiarity with the inquiry’s findings.

The solicitor’s response, published in today’s Irish Times, also claims the critique by former gardaí displays a lack of independence and a keenness to accept the IRA’s versions of events.

In addition, Mr McBurney staunchly defends the Smithwick Tribunal’s report as a “comprehensive, nuanced and fair document”.

You can read Mr McBurney’s statement on IrishTimes.com

Leading journalist claims there was an IRA mole in Dundalk Garda Station

Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan, who were murdered in an ambush just over the border after leaving Dundalk Garda Station in 1989

One of the leading journalists who covered the Troubles in Northern Ireland has insisted that the Provisional IRA did have a mole in Dundalk Garda Station.

Ed Moloney, author of The Secret History of the IRA, released a blog yesterday evening in response to three former Dundalk Gardaí’s criticism of the Smithwick Tribunal, which found that a member of the force in Dundalk colluded in the deaths of RUC officers Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan in 1989.

Former Garda Chief Superintendents John O’Brien, Michael Finnegan and Michael Staunton earlier this week issued a 33-page rebuttal of the Smithwick Tribunal report.

However, Mr Moloney – who also wrote the book ‘Voices from the Grave’ – said he was amazed that Gardaí would take the word of the IRA over the judgement of a Tribunal of Inquiry that was established by the State.

He said: “I do not know what happened on the day that the two RUC men met their end but there are two things that I do know: one is that it was not necessary for the Garda informant to tip off the IRA on the day of the killings for him to have colluded in the deaths.

“The other thing I know is that the IRA did have an agent inside the Dundalk Garda station. The Smithwick Tribunal was established largely because of allegations from Toby Harnden in his book Bandit Country – The IRA and South Armagh that a Dundalk-based Garda helped the IRA kill the two RUC men.

“I believed him not just because I know him to be a reputable and ethical journalist but also because I was told the same, that a well known Dundalk Garda was in the back pocket of the IRA in South Armagh. My source was a well-placed member of the IRA whose position in the organisation was such that he was in a position to know all about the Garda agent.

“The details about the agent that I was given dovetail exactly with Harnden’s information. The protestations to the contrary from the retired Garda officers are understandable but they do not add up.

“So between Toby Harnden’s security force sources and my IRA sources I think we can be pretty sure that the Garda IRA mole in Dundalk police station did exist. The protestations to the contrary from the retired Garda officers are understandable but they do not add up.”

You can read the full blog from Ed Moloney here.

Donaldson “disappointed” at challenge to Smithwick Tribunal

Jeffrey Donaldson

Democratic Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson, who was instrumental in the setting up of the Smithwick Tribunal, has said he was “disappointed” to hear of the challenge to the tribunal’s findings.

Mr Donaldson, who used House of Commons privilege to name a member of the Garda as someone who was passing information to the IRA, said the State “should not be deflected” on acting on the tribunal findings.

His comments come after three former Dundalk Gardaí challenged the tribunal’s key finding of collusion by unnamed gardaí in the murders of two RUC officers in 1989.

The critique, carried out by retired det chief supt John O’Brien, former chief supt Michael Finnegan and former chief supt Michael Staunton, claimed the tribunal’s finding is not grounded in facts and should be rejected by the Government “as a matter of urgency and justice”.

However, backing the Tribunal Mr Donaldson said the Government should consider “follow through” in pursuit of those responsible for wrongdoing. “If the Garda are not prepared to do this then you have to ask what was the point of the tribunal at all,” he said.

Mr Donaldson, who was a party to the Weston Park agreement in 2000, in which Irish and British authorities agreed to examine alleged collusion on both sides of the Border, said “the work of the tribunal was detailed and thorough”. He said he was disappointed that former Garda officers could be “so dismissive” and he believed they had displayed “not much understanding” of the tribunal’s work.

“The tribunal concluded there was collusion. The Garda needs to revisit and reinvestigate any elements that emerge. With the passage of time that becomes more difficult, but that doesn’t mean this avenue is closed,” he said.

No comment was made by the chairman Judge Peter Smithwick on the challenge to his report.