A former assistant garda commissioner has said that an RUC officer murdered in an IRA ambush was ‘really setting himself up’ by always driving to garda stations in the Republic in his own car with the same number plates on it.
Giving evidence to the Smithwick Tribunal this afternoon, retired Assistant Commissioner Ned O'Dea said he would not have dreamt of doing what RUC Supt Bob Buchanan did.
Mr Buchanan, along with Chief Supt Harry Breen, was killed in an IRA ambush minutes after leaving a meeting in Dundalk Garda Station on 20 March 1989.
The witness said when he travelled to Northern Ireland, he always did so in a different car with different number plates.
Mr O’Dea said the IRA would not have needed anyone in the garda station to tell them the two officers were at a meeting because they had a lot of members in and around Dundalk.
He said said retired Det Sgt Owen Corrigan was ‘a brave officer’ who took a lot of actions against the IRA.
Mr Corrigan, along with former Sergeant Leo Colton and former garda Finbarr Hickey, are being investigated by the tribunal to see if one of them passed information onto the IRA leading them to set up the ambush in which the two RUC men were killed.
The day after their killings, Mr O'Dea was sent to Dundalk to carry out an investigation into who knew the meeting was taking place and when.
Counsel for the Tribunal, Justin Dillon, pointed out to him a number of apparent inconsistencies in his report, including whether more gardaí knew of the meeting than he had said in his final report.
It was also pointed out to him that the RUC Chief Constable and Garda Commissioner both said there was no garda leak while he was still investigating that matter. His report concluded there was no leak, but he denied that it was a whitewash.
Mr O’Dea told the tribunal that the IRA had a large intelligence gathering capability. He saw for himself that the paramilitaries had a lot of details about people of interest including him; where he lived, his family, his car and even his golf handicap.
Notes taken at a cabinet meeting on 21 March 1989, the day after the murder, were also revealed at the tribunal today.
The then Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, asked if there should be a garda inquiry and it was agreed that it would be carried out and sent to the then minister for justice, Gerry Collins.
According to Justin Dillon, it was clear that there was a report which the minister for justice had at that cabinet meeting.
The tribunal had not been able to find that report, he said, but maybe Mr Collins might be able to help the Tribunal when he gives evidence.
Ex-garda clarifies 'spacer' comments
A retired detective sergeant has clarified comments he made to the Smithwick Tribunal about a man who worked as an agent for MI5 within the IRA.
Tom Fox last week referred to a man he believed to be Peter Keeley, who also uses the name of Kevin Fulton.
Mr Fox had described him as a 'spacer' and was not a man who could be trusted. Information that he passed on was always exaggerated and that was the view of the detectives in Dundalk.
He had also said that if it was the person he thought it was, then he also used the name McCann.
Today a photograph of Mr Keeley was shown to Mr Fox when he was recalled by the tribunal.
The witness confirmed that this was not the person he had been talking about last week and that his comments did not refer to Mr Keeley.
Mr Keeley has already given a statement to the tribunal in which he claims that he was an agent in the IRA and that the Det Sergeant Owen Corrigan was passing information to the paramilitaries. Mr Corrigan has always denied the claim.
Neil Rafferty, counsel for Mr Keeley, said his client operated inside the IRA for MI5 and that the name Kevin Fulton was given to him for newspaper reports when he spoke about the Omagh bombing and Mr Corrigan.
In reply to a question from Mr Rafferty, Mr Fox said he was aware that a man called 'Mooch' Blair was a well known subversive in Dundalk, but he did not know that Mr Keeley was a driver for this man.
