Sgt John Eiffe (40) was one of two members of the National Surveillance Unit (NSU), known in the Garda as "Pointers", on duty at Abbeyleix, Co Laois on December 7th. During the day, he and his colleague were watching the laneway alongside the Allied Irish Banks branch from an upstairs room above a public house across from the bank.
It is the job of the Pointers to observe and pass on information to other armed units if there is to be an interception. The NSU is attached to Garda Headquarters in Phoenix Park as part of the Crime and Security Branch.
The surveillance officers work in plain clothes, and their job is to be as inconspicuous as possible. Det Sgt Eiffe was, as usual, working in civilian clothing.
The plan of action at Abbeyleix was to intercept an armed robbery of the AIB branch. Surveillance had been underway on an armed gang who had been followed in the previous week to Abbeyleix. Two members of the gang had climbed over the wall at the back of the bank and sawed through iron bars on a ground-floor window. They had then filled the gap with putty and painted over their work.
The bank was being painted and renovations were under way, so the work on the bars went unnoticed, except by the garda∅ following the gang.
On the afternoon of December 7th, three cars were followed into the laneway alongside the bank towards the Most Holy Rosary Church. At this point, members of the Emergency Response Unit (ERU), who were waiting in the town, were alerted by the NSU officers and moved into action. Their plan was to block the narrow lane and trap the three suspects.
As the armed ERU officers moved towards the three cars, one began to reverse back and forward, striking a gate and wall in the lane in an attempt to turn, drive back up the lane and escape through a car-park. As the car made its way to the car-park the ERU unit opened fire, one with a Sig military assault shotgun.
This is one of the most powerful handheld guns with a cartridge carrying pellets each of which has the power and velocity of a bullet from a handgun. The assault shotgun was fired in an attempt to disable the car which, at this point, was proving a threat to the life of the ERU officers. Two other officers opened fire with handguns, shooting towards the car. One shot passed through a side window of the bank. Unfortunately, as this confrontation was taking place, Det Sgt Eiffe left his observation point, it seems, to lend assistance to his colleagues. He was close to the entrance to the car-park when he was struck by a ricochet from one of the shotgun pellets. It is believed the pellet struck a granite wall behind where he was crouching and penetrated his chest. It is understood this struck a vital organ and caused fatal haemorrhage.
The Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, ordered an inquiry. Det Sgt Eiffe was the first officer in the history of the force to be killed by one of his own colleagues. Also, there has been growing controversy over the role of the ERU since its use in the siege at Abbeylara, Co Longford, in April 2000 in which a young man, John Carthy, was shot dead.
The Abbeyleix inquiry is being carried out by a detective superintendent from the National Bureau of Crime Investigation (NBCI) in Dublin. Forensic examination of the scene lasted almost a week. Garda∅ and witnesses were questioned. The weapons fired were taken to the Ballistics Section in the Garda Technical Bureau in Phoenix Park. According to senior Garda sources, the initial indications from the inquiry are that there was a danger arising from the use of the shotgun in a confined area - in this case a small car-park surrounded by granite walls - of injury through ricochet.
The blast from the assault shotgun can pierce steel plate or pass through brick walls. However, the walls surrounding the car-park in Abbeyleix contain hard rock that caused ricochets.
The other matter that is likely to lead to a rethink on all such operations was that at Abbeyleix two separate units, the ERU based at Harcourt Square and the NSU at Phoenix Park, comprising members who were not well acquainted with each other, were operating in the same dangerous situation. Part of the NSU philosophy is that its members should remain as anonymous as possible. A similar air of secrecy is maintained at the ERU which is part of the Special Branch, the Garda's traditional secret police section which investigates terrorist crime. The ERU members, on duty, are supposed to wear tabards to distinguish them from armed criminals, but sources say that this rule is often not observed. Concern about the deployment of armed units in plain clothes has previously led to fraught situations.
The Army, which provides armed escorts for cash deliveries, has expressed concern on a number of occasions after its soldiers have encountered unidentified armed men in civilian clothes and were uncertain whether they were garda∅ or robbers.
One military source said last week that the death or serious injury of a garda or member of the public was only a matter of time.
There were no civilians in the Abbeyleix car-park at the time of the confrontation, but two painters were at work at the rear of the bank and close to the shooting. One of the shots also passed through one of the windows at the side of the bank while staff were inside. Det Sgt Eiffe, a married man with four children from Ratoath, Co Meath, may have endangered himself by going to the assistance of the ERU officers during the confrontation. Colleagues say Sgt Eiffe was one of the most courageous undercover officers in the force. He was at the forefront in the confrontation at Ashford, Co Wicklow, with a heavily armed "Real IRA" gang intent on robbing a security van in May 1998. The robbers were armed with assault rifles, shotguns and handguns. One of the robbers, Ronan MacLochlainn, from Ballymun, Dublin, was shot dead. According to colleagues, Sgt Eiffe played a central role in forcing the "Real IRA" members to surrender.