Smithwick tribunal assurances given

The Smithwick Tribunal into suspected Garda-IRA collusion in the murder of two senior RUC officers will not be curtailed, the North's First Minister Peter Robinson has said.

He said he had an assurance from Justice Minister Alan Shatter that the activities of the inquiry would not be guillotined.

RUC officers Ch Supt Harry Breen and Supt Robert Buchanan were two of the most senior policemen killed in the conflict.

They were gunned down returning from a meeting with a top Garda officer in Dundalk, Co Louth, just north of the border in Co Armagh in March 1989.

Mr Robinson met Mr Shatter and said: “We talked about the issue and he has given me an assurance that there was no curtailment of the activities of the inquiry.”

The tribunal, established in 2005, is examining allegations that gardai or a civilian working in the force colluded with the IRA in the killing of the two RUC officers in the border ambush.

Mr Shatter had called for a six-month limit on the tribunal and claimed inquiry head Judge Peter Smithwick assured him the fast-track investigation was possible.

He said it was not in the public interest, or in the interest of the families bereaved, that an inquiry should continue indefinitely.

His comments met criticism from unionists, who want the tribunal‘s work to be completed free from outside pressure.

Mr Robinson said he was told by Mr Shatter that the dates for the inquiry had been set with the views of those associated with the inquiry taken into account.

The Democratic Unionist leader told the Stormont Assembly: “The first people to be on their feet complaining if there was any curtailment of any inquiries being carried out in this jurisdiction would be those in the Irish Republic.

“People are right...to make it clear that there is an obligation to ensure that the inquiry is handled in a fair and transparent manner, where every opportunity is given for those who have questions to ask to ask them.”

The IRA claimed responsibility for the murders after the Dundalk meeting, which had been arranged at short notice.

The tribunal sits tomorrow for an opening statement.