Gardaí unable to prosecute after paramilitaries fired at funeral

GARDAÍ had already conceded a month after the funeral of Kerry republican John Joe Sheehy that they would not be able to prosecute those who appeared in paramilitary uniform and fired shots at the ceremonies.

A note of a phone call from the Department of Justice to the Taoiseach’s Department on February 20, 1980, states that the Director of Public Prosecutions had decided, on the basis of the evidence provided by the gardaí, that “there were no grounds for any prosecution arising out of the involvement of persons in paramilitary dress etc in the Sheehy funeral”.

“While the garda investigations into the firing of shots at the funeral is not closed, it is considered unlikely that any evidence will be forthcoming which would warrant a prosecution.”