Two RUC officers murdered in an IRA ambush were killed after disobeying an order not to cross the Border into the Republic, it has been claimed.
Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan were gunned down in Co Armagh in March 1989 as they returned from talks with a top Garda officer in Dundalk, Co Louth.
The Smithwick Tribunal in Dublin, in its first day of witness evidence, heard then RUC chief constable John Hermon warned four days before the killings that they did not need to cross the border.
A former assistant chief constable, who cannot be named, said he then ordered the men not to leave Northern Ireland.
“It still lives with me the fact that I told them not to go,” he said, speaking from behind a blue screen to protect his identity.
“They disobeyed an order and were killed.”
He added: “It wasn’t the first time somebody disobeyed an order and they finished up being killed.”
Mr Breen and Mr Buchanan were two of the highest-ranking RUC officers killed in the Troubles.
They had travelled to the Republic to discuss a possible joint RUC/Garda police operation.
The tribunal, established in 2005, is investigating allegations that Garda officers or a civilian working in the force colluded with the IRA in the murders.
The assistant chief constable, whose command covered counties Antrim, Down and parts of Tyrone, said he spoke to Mr Hermon before travelling to Armagh on March 16th to meet the RUC officers - four days before they were murdered.
“I asked both men to give me a promise that they would not go across the Border,” he said.
“And they did (give a promise), because there was no necessity in it.”
But Tribunal lawyer Justin Dillon SC said Mr Breen’s wife June was adamant her husband had the day off.
“I put it to you that you did not give (the direction) to Mr Breen because he wasn’t there,” Mr Dillon said.
But the assistant chief constable, known as witness 18, stressed he spoke to Mr Breen that evening.
“I have no reason to tell you anything else than what happened,” he said.
He said Mr Breen and Mr Buchanan had a low-level task to gather information and report back to RUC headquarters.
He said Dundalk was known as a “cowboy town” at the time.
“Quite a number of members of subversive organisations were on the run, staying in or about Dundalk,” he said.
Earlier, the former assistant chief constable’s then staff officer said he was amazed when he learned Mr Buchanan had been crossing the Border 10 times a month during that period.
“My personal view of travelling 10 times in a month, that was unreasonable, that was unnecessary,” he said, also speaking from behind a screen.
After the hearing, John McBurney, solicitor for the Breen family, said it was unlikely the officers would have ignored the order.
“These men clearly both had concerns about travelling to these meetings, Mr McBurney said.
“For them to be given the opportunity not to go, is not something to my mind that would be ignored, that would be challenged, that would be contradicted.”
The tribunal, headed by Judge Peter Smithwick, has cost €8 million so far.
It has conducted its investigations to date in private, interviewing 214 potential witnesses.
The Dáil voted to alter the tribunal’s terms of reference to ensure an interim report by the end of June and a final report by late November.
Amid suggestions the tribunal’s work was being rushed, Judge Smithwick said he would carry out the inquiry in an independent and impartial way.
PA