Tribunal to probe garda plot in murder of RUC men

A TRIBUNAL to investigate allegations of garda collusion in the murder of two senior RUC officers 16 years ago is to be established, it was confirmed yesterday.

A motion to establish a tribunal of inquiry to examine the IRA ambush of RUC Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Robert Buchanan will be brought before the Oireachtas on March 23.

A spokesman for the Department of Justice said: “A motion will be brought before the Houses of the Oireachtas at the end of the month. They still have to establish the tribunal, no one has been appointed yet.”

In 2003, Justice Minister Michael McDowell announced there would be a public inquiry into allegations of garda collusion surrounding the IRA murder of the two senior officers.

The two men were shot dead on March 20, 1989, at an IRA checkpoint near Jonesborough, Co Armagh, as they returned from a security meeting with gardaí in Dundalk.

Canadian Judge Peter Cory, who was appointed to investigate allegations of collusion between British and Irish security forces and paramilitaries surrounding six cases in the North, recommended an inquiry be held into the deaths of the two men.

Mr Justice Cory said an investigation should be opened to delve into allegations of garda collusion in the deaths. He examined claims a garda based at the Dundalk station passed on information to Provisionals on the movements of the two senior officers after the cross-Border security talks.

He found that evidence was revealed that, if accepted, could be found to constitute collusion.

The judge noted that a garda investigation and a statement from the RUC in to the deaths had found no evidence of collusion.