Inquiry on Real IRA man’s death urges public to give information

Anyone with information on the fatal shooting by gardaí of a Real IRA member 17-years-ago has been urged contact the inquiry investigating the death.

The commission of investigation into the death of Rónán Mac Lochlainn (28), of Ballymun, Dublin, during the botched robbery of a cash-in-transit van on May 1st, 1998 continued its public hearings on Monday.

At the outset of the hearing, the sole member of the commission, Mary Rose Gearty SC, said the commission had now received an affidavit from An Garda Síochána and she was grateful for that.

“It seems to be very thorough,” she said, adding that she had not yet examined it in detail.

Ms Gearty said a number of members had certified to a chief superintendent that they had searched their particular areas, including Wicklow Garda station, and that they had recovered everything that was of relevance to the inquiry.

In addition, the commission had heard from a member of the public who had read of the hearings in the media last week. A meeting with that individual had been “fruitful”, Ms Gearty said.

She said that any member of the public who thought they had relevant material was more than welcome to contact the commission.

Philip Kelly, who was a detective superintendent in the National Surveillance Unit (NSU) at the time, told the inquiry that Mr Mac Lochlainn and another man had come to their attention at a car park in Heuston Station at the end of April.

Gardaí had two vans, a blue one and a white one, under surveillance and these were of interest, Mr Kelly said. But he insisted gardaí had “no intelligence” regarding the planned robbery in Ashford as of April 24th when the vans were seen at Heuston.

On the day of the robbery, May 1st, he was in his office at Garda Headquarters in Phoenix Park in Dublin and was in radio and phone contact with the garda in charge at the scene in Ashford.

When the Securicor van entered the village, he lost contact with gardaí at the scene due to the terrain, he said.

Under questioning from Hugh Hartnett SC for Mr Mac Lochlainn’s partner Gráinne Nic Gib, Mr Kelly did not agree that he was “out of the loop” at some point between 4pm and 4.15pm on May 1st as the incident unfolded.

At the time of the incident on that Friday afternoon there was heavy traffic on the Wexford-bound road on what was a bank holiday weekend.

When the gang attempted to rob the van on the main Dublin to Wexford road, armed gardaí moved in to arrest them.

Mr Mac Lochlainn died of a single bullet wound to the chest. He was armed at the time and was trying to hijack a car driven by an elderly couple.

His inquest heard that 12 shots were fired by gardaí.

Garda members were also engaged in industrial action on the day, calling in sick in a protest that became known as the ‘blue flu’.

The commission will sit in private on Tuesday.