Tribunal considers Garda documents

Garda intelligence information relating to the IRA killing of two RUC men in 1989 was assessed in private session at the Smithwick Tribunal this morning.

As the tribunal opened in public session, Mary Laverty SC for the tribunal said an issue had arisen in relation to how best to put certain intelligence documents into the public domain.

She said it was not a question of the information contained in the documents being withheld, but of how best it could be aired, given the sensitive nature of the documents.

Ms Laverty said the issue could only be decided by Judge Peter Smithwick, possibly in private session.

The tribunal is inquiring into suggestions of collusion on the part of some members of the garda based in Dundalk Garda Station in 1989, in the IRA killing of the RUC officers.

Commenting on the issue Judge Smithwick said he recognised there were security issues where the identification of individuals could possibly put their lives in danger, but he was reluctant “to avert the public gaze” from the tribunal proceedings.

He ruled he would restrict the session to parties who had already been granted full representation at the tribunal. He also included legal representatives of the families of the two murdered RUC officers Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan.

But he said he particularly wanted the media to be aware that a full précis of the documents which revealed the necessary information while protecting the identity of the authors would be make public in due course.

The tribunal is due to hear information from a Garda documents officer in relation to intelligence of IRA activity in the south Armagh region in the late 1980s .

The tribunal has been told that in a three year period to 1989 the IRA killed the Hanna family in a case of mistaken identity; Lord Justice Gibson and his wife as well as the two RUC officers. All three killings occurred as the victims were making journeys which involved crossing the Border.