Inquiry finds Irish police colluded with IRA in RUC murders

An inquiry has concluded that Irish police officers colluded in the murders of two senior Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers.

Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan were shot dead in an IRA ambush on March 20, 1989, in South Armagh.

They had been at a meeting in Dundalk Garda station and were targeted as they crossed the border back into Northern Ireland.

Judge Peter Smithwick said in the report of his inquiry that he believed information had been leaked to the IRA to trigger the operation.

Due to the timing of the murders – the IRA had placed gunmen on the road where the officers were killed ten minutes after their arrival at the station – Judge Smithwick said it was most likely the leak originated in Dundalk Garda station.

“I think that the circumstances alone point towards a conclusion that information was leaked in order to trigger the commencement of the operation at this time. I have considered the possibility that information was leaked by the RUC but, as already stated in this report, I have found no evidence to support this.

“Moreover, if the information had been leaked by the RUC over the course of the weekend to the Provisional IRA, the IRA would likely have made its preparations earlier on the morning of Monday, March 20, 1989, and the fact that the preparations commenced so late in the morning tends, in my view, to make it more likely that the information came from Dundalk Garda Station.”

He added: “I conclude that the passing of information by a member of An Garda Síochána was the trigger for the commencement of the first phase of the operation. However, having regard to the intelligence, I think it is quite possible that there was also an act of collusion to trigger the commencement of the second phase of the operation upon the arrival of the two officers at the Garda Station in Dundalk.

“Having regard to the fact that the “live and of the moment” intelligence received by the PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland) contemplates more than one member of An Garda Síochána in Dundalk assisting the IRA, a second act of collusion may have been committed by the same, or possibly a different, member of An Garda Síochána.”