Inquiry into IRA killing of RUC officers

THE public inquiry into the IRA murder of two RUC officers in Armagh in 1989 will investigate not only if gardaí colluded in the killings, but whether colleagues turned "a blind eye" to the collusion.

The Smithwick Tribunal into the murders of Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Robert Buchanan opened in Dublin yesterday.

On March 20, 1989, the two men travelled to Dundalk Garda Station for a meeting with a senior garda officer which had been arranged only that morning. On their return across the border, they were ambushed and killed by the IRA on the Edenappa Road in Co Armagh. There have long been claims that the IRA was tipped off about their return route by a member of the gardaí.