Garda told ‘forget about death of Ritchie Barron’

A DONEGAL garda claimed yesterday he was told to forget about the events surrounding the death of cattle dealer Ritchie Barron after making an explosives find.

Garda Patrick Mulligan told the Morris Tribunal Chief Superintendent Denis Fitzpatrick commended him for finding the “makings of a bomb” in a car in June 1999.

And he added the senior officer, who was heavily criticised in the first tribunal report, told him to stop looking in the mirror.

“He said, ‘Pádraig, forget about Raphoe, don’t look in the mirror, look forward’,” Gda Mulligan said.

Gda Mulligan, who has taken a total of three years’ sick leave from the force since 1996, has admitted he was drinking in a pub in Lifford with a colleague when he should have been on duty in Raphoe on the night Mr Barron was killed.

He added he thought the bomb find was good publicity for the Donegal gardaí.

“I had a bit of good luck for a change and I thought things would improve for me,” Gda Mulligan said.“I thought I had made up for my mistakes. I thought things were coming OK for me again.”

Chief Superintendent Fitzpatrick, who heads the National Traffic Bureau, is to take early retirement from the force at the beginning of September.

Tribunal chair and former High Court President Mr Justice Frederick Morris found Chief Superintendent Fitzpatrick was gravely at fault for not properly investigating the activities of senior officers in the Donegal district.

The tribunal was set up to look into allegations of corruption amongst gardaí in the border county.

The current session is focusing on events surrounding the death of Raphoe cattle dealer Mr Barron in October 1996.