Murdered officer suggested gardaí 'on payroll'

ONE OF two senior RUC officers murdered as they returned from a meeting in Dundalk Garda station in 1989 had voiced concern that some members of the Garda in Dundalk were in the pay of republican Thomas “Slab” Murphy.

Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan were murdered by the IRA as they returned to Co Armagh from Dundalk Garda station on Monday, March 20th that year.

Yesterday former RUC superintendent Alan Mains told the Smithwick tribunal that Supt Breen had mentioned “members of the gardaí were on the payroll” of Mr Murphy.

The Smithwick tribunal is inquiring into suggestions that members of An Garda Síochána or other employees of the State colluded in the killings.

Mr Mains recalled Chief Supt Breen particularly mentioned the name of Det Sgt Owen Corrigan of Dundalk Garda station, and had said he did not trust him.

Mr Mains said it was unusual for Supt Breen to have been “so specific about a named officer”.

He said part of the reason for the RUC visit to Dundalk Garda station was to discuss co-operation with the Garda in combating an alleged smuggling operation which utilised the Border property of Mr Murphy.

The smuggling issue had arisen at a dinner at which then Northern Ireland secretary of state Tom King was given reports by a colonel in the British army.

Mr Mains said he had been due to travel with Supt Breen to the meeting in Dundalk. However, he had a prior commitment and his place was taken by Supt Bob Buchanan.

Chief Supt Breen and Supt Buchanan were subsequently murdered by the IRA ambush just inside the Border in Co Armagh, as they returned from the meeting in Dundalk. Mr Mains described Chief Supt Breen as “a gentleman” adding that Supt Buchanan was “very quiet and unassuming”.

Mr Mains said he had raised the dead officer’s concerns with then chief constable Sir John Hermon in the aftermath of the killings, but Sir John had refused to accept them saying: “that man [Corrigan] was investigated and cleared”.

Det Sgt Corrigan has always denied claims that he colluded in the murder of the RUC officers.

Mr Mains said he heard of Det Garda Corrigan again in 1997. A Garda colleague phoned him at his station house, which was then in Newry, and said Mr Corrigan had been “taken from outside a pub and it wasn’t particularly good . . . There was blood, hair and teeth, evidence of a particularly violent struggle.” Mr Mains said Mr Corrigan had later been found “thankfully alive”.

The senior Garda officer who met the RUC officers in Dundalk on the day of the killings also rejected allegations of collusion.

Former Garda chief superintendent John Nolan told Judge Peter Smithwick: “I never heard a word of a leak or collusion by a member of the force during my time in Dundalk.”

Mr Nolan said he had travelled to Newry in the aftermath of the killings and briefly met the RUC chief constable and other RUC officers and the question of collusion or a leak from Dundalk Garda station never arose. He said the prevalent opinion was that the RUC officers had been followed from Dundalk and killed.

However, counsel for the tribunal Justin Dillon said it was well known that assistant Garda commissioner Edward O’Dea had been sent to Dundalk to investigate allegations of collusion in the aftermath of the killings.

Mr Dillon said a newspaper headline the day after the killings had also referred to collusion. He accused Mr Nolan of “rewriting history”.