‘Ex garda helped IRA obtain false documents’
Judge Peter Smithwick said Colton assisted the Provisional IRA in 1995 and 1996 by having his former colleague, Finbarr Hickey, sign false passport applications. But he added he did not think there was sufficient evidence to establish there was a relationship between Colton and the Provisional IRA as far back as 1990.
Hickey was jailed for his part in the passport scam, but argued he only did it because Colton had asked him to, not knowing they were counterfeit. Some ended up in the hands of known IRA men. Colton was never charged or convicted and has always denied the allegation, despite several senior officers telling the tribunal they believed Hickey’s version of events.
