Club manager refused to clear hall after bomb warning

A former nightclub manager today admitted he refused to clear a packed dance hall despite warnings from senior gardai that there could be two bombs on the premises.

A former nightclub manager today admitted he refused to clear a packed dance hall despite warnings from senior gardaí that there could be two bombs on the premises.

John Mitchell, ex-head barman at Frank McBrearty’s club in Raphoe, Co Donegal, said two gardaí officers just walked away after he insisted he wouldn’t evacuate it.

He admitted before the Morris Tribunal he didn’t know the bomb was a hoax at the time and couldn’t recall why he wouldn’t carry out the garda orders.

Tribunal chairman Frederick Morris exclaimed: “There could have been 500 people blown up.”

Mr Mitchell replied: “Possibly, could have been.”

The tribunal heard sacked Detective Sergeant John White ran towards Frankies Nightclub about 1am one summer night in 1997 claiming the local priest had got a telephone bomb warning.

Another call had been made to Letterkenny General Hospital that a device had been left in the packed premises.

Det Sgt White demanded the band be stopped and the dance hall cleared while gardaí inspected it.

But according to Mr Mitchell’s diary of the time, he insisted the move would cause panic and instead offered to get his staff to check around the hall.

Inspector James Griffin, normally based in Cork but who was in Donegal for the BSE scare, was called to the scene where he again demanded the nightclub be evacuated.

Mr Mitchell said he refused because the staff had checked everywhere and were satisfied there was no device.

“Then the Inspector said: ’Well if you are happy enough to leave things as they are and accept full responsibility if anything does happen there is nothing more we can do here’. So they both walked off down the street,” he told tribunal investigators.

Former High Court judge Mr Morris said it could be interpreted as “appalling and irresponsible” to defy the garda orders and ignore the potentially serious threat to life.

Tribunal barrister Anthony Barr SC continued to press Mr Mitchell as to why he didn’t get the patrons out of the club.

“There could have been serious injury or even loss of life,” said Mr Barr.

Mr Mitchell said although he couldn’t have known it was a hoax he was convinced it was just part of an alleged campaign of harassment by gardaí against Mr McBrearty Snr.

“I’d be telling you lies if tried to give you an answer as to why I didn’t clear the hall. I just seen it as another form of harassment,” he said.

The tribunal is presently investigating allegations of harassment which sparked legal proceedings against the state by Mr McBrearty Snr in April 1997.

Some 69 summons were served against the publican during the year and a half after 12 members of his extended family were wrongly arrested in a botched murder probe.

The district court summonses – the majority served in relation to Mr McBrearty’s night club – were withdrawn in July 2000 on the direction of the Director of Public Prosecutions.