People in Leitrim still coming to terms with the fallout following the Don Tidey rescue operation.
It is over three weeks since the kidnapped managing director of the Quinnsworth supermarket group Don Tidey was rescued from a makeshift hideout in Drumcroman Wood, Derrada in County Leitrim.
During the rescue operation, Don Tidey's Irish Republican Army captors shot dead two members of the security operation, Private Patrick Kelly and trainee recruit Garda Gary Sheehan. The kidnap gang got away, escaping to the mountains around the town of Ballinamore in south County Leitrim. The fateful events,
Resulted in perhaps the biggest and costliest security operation the State has ever seen.
Drumcroman Wood was the scene of an exhaustive forensic operation but many questions remain unanswered.
Why did the kidnapping gang get away and especially was there enough communications between the different search parties on the day, each code named Rudolf?
In the town of Ballinamore, there is a sense of disappointment the kidnapping gang were not caught. Padráig Griffin of the community council observes how the killing of the two members of the security forces greatly shocked local people.
That numbing feeling of shock pervaded the area for several days during the search.
Seddie McGovern of the community council regrets how some sections of the national media portrayed the people of Ballinamore during the rescue operation. It was reported that soldiers and gardaí on duty in the search area around Ballinamore were refused food and drinks in the town. Seddie McGovern vehemently denies these allegations.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 7 January 1984. The reporter is Charlie Bird.
