McEntee Commission - Question of collusion still exists

The long-awaited report of the McEntee Commission into the 1974 Dublin and Monahan bombings was released yesterday.

A function of the inquiry was to clear up as much as possible confusion about the role of the Garda Síochána in relation to allegations of possible collusion between some gardaí and individual members of security forces in the North who were suspected of colluding with the actual perpetrators of the worst atrocity in this jurisdiction since the foundation of the State.

The inquiry was established after Mr Justice Henry Barron had concluded that there was no proof of collusion between the bombers and the authorities in the North, but there were grounds for suspecting links to individual members of those forces. He also found that the Irish “Government of the day showed little interest in the bombings”, and demonstrated no inclination to follow up suggestions that the British authorities had intelligence identifying those responsible.

The Barron Report was highly critical of the garda investigation into the bombings. Mr Justice Barron concluded that the investigation “was wound down very quickly and failed to follow up a number of leads”. In addition, a number of important documents had disappeared.

The Garda Commissioner stated that the investigation was wound down because nothing further could be done at the time. Barrister Patrick McEntee found “no evidence” of the alleged collusion in relation to “the winding down of the investigation”. But his conclusion is hardly going to satisfy anybody, because it was not the same thing as saying there was no evidence of such collusion.

Many vital documents were missing. At least 10 highly sensitive security files had disappeared. If those were files about some second-rate burglary, it would be bad enough, but they related to the murders of 33 people — cases that supposedly remain open indefinitely until somebody is convicted of the crime.

Mr McEntee added that it would be “unfair and unjust” to suggest that the gardaí were “solely responsible” for the shortcomings. Of course, that is a very long way from saying that they were not responsible for them.

To suggest that garda record-keeping in this case was sloppy and unprofessional would be about the nicest thing one could say about this whole sorry affair, because it amounts to a blistering indictment of garda procedures, regardless of the involvement, or lack of involvement, of other elements of the State’s apparatus.

Questions must also be asked about the way this report was published at five o’clock in the late afternoon. The report itself was not rushed, as Mr McEntee was given nine different extensions, so why was it released at five o’clock in the afternoon? The whole thing smacked of a blatant attempt to stampede the media into instant analysis. If the report was worth doing, it was worth doing well and should have been released in a matter that would afford reporters an opportunity to analyse it properly.