Morris Tribunal told: Gardai killed cattle dealer

Two gardai killed a Co Donegal cattle dealer, a tribunal of inquiry into police corruption heard today.

The allegation – originating from an informer – was included in a report carried out into police conduct by Garda Assistant Commissioner, Kevin Carty.

The cattle dealer, Richie Barron, died in October, 1996. His body was found at a roadside in Co Donegal.

The tribunal, chaired by former High Court President Mr Justice Frederick Morris, is expected to last up to two years and sit in both Donegal and Dublin.

In his opening statement, tribunal lawyer Peter Charleton said the purported informant had allegedly conspired with two police officers to“plant” substances, materials and ammunition, claimed to be from subversives, and then report them as findings to enhance their reputations and promotion prospects.

Mr Charleton said that two Garda officers named in the Carty report had denied all allegations made against them. But they had failed to give an account of their full movements on the night that Mr Barron was killed, based on legal advice or some interpretation of legal advice.

Mr Charleton said the tribunal was anxious to represent both sides and that everyone against whom an allegation had been made had been interviewed.

The tribunal was appointed by the government in Dublin earlier this year year afterafter renewed controversy about the activities of certain officers in Co Donegal that was initially sparked by a police investigation into the death of Mr Barron.

The inquiry was also set to investigate aspects of the handling of the affair by the Garda Complaints Board. Allegations against officers include claims of criminal and unethical behaviour on the part of some members of the force.

For the first time in legal history, the tribunal is to have the assistance of independent investigators, one of them from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police force.

The inquiry was opening in Donegal, but expected to switch to a Dublin venue for the public hearing of witnesses early in the New Year.

But a family caught up in the affair, and one of the main complainants against the police was not planning to intend the hearings.

Members of the McBrearty family, from Raphoe, Co Donegal, rejected representation at the tribunal unless its terms of reference were widened to cover a range of Irish state functions and provision was made for their legal costs.