Collusion claims are monstrous lie, says former Garda
A former Garda officer has described allegations that he was involved in
setting up two RUC officers to be murdered by the IRA as “a shameful,
monstrous and terrible lie”.
Former Detective Sergeant Owen Corrigan said he had been “deeply insulted” by allegations that there had been collusion with the IRA from inside Dundalk Garda station leading to the murders of Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan in 1989.
Giving evidence to the Smithwick Tribunal in Dublin yesterday, the former Garda Special Branch officer said the allegations first arose in a book called Bandit Country published in 2000.
The retired police officer said that earlier allegations published in newspapers suggesting that there had been collusion between Garda officers and the IRA had not been taken seriously.
He pointed out that the author of Bandit Country, Toby Harnden, who is now working in America, had declined to give evidence.
Mr Corrigan said that when he was named under privilege in the House of Commons by Jeffrey Donaldson MP, a British agent who infiltrated the IRA, Kevin Fulton, was in the public gallery.
He claimed Fulton was “a reject from the British Army, a reject from the RUC Special Branch, described as a compulsive liar, a fantasist and an intelligence nuisance by the RUC Chief Constable”.
Mr Corrigan said allegations had been made by Mr Donaldson using Parliamentary privilege in the House of Commons and he had not had a chance to clear his name before his wife Sheila died.
Earlier yesterday, South Belfast MLA Jimmy Spratt rejected a suggestion that the retired Garda sergeant was on first-name terms with former RUC Chief Constable Sir John Hermon.
The former chairman of the Police Federation told the tribunal that he found the suggestion “absolutely incredible” and rejected the possibility that Mr Corrigan had travelled with Sir John in his official police vehicle.
Mr Spratt, who was in charge of Sir John’s bodyguard detachment from 1980 to 1986, said that no member of An Garda Siochana ever travelled in Sir John’s armoured car.
Giving evidence by video-link from Belfast, the DUP Assemblyman said the denials of collusion by Sir John and then Garda Commissioner Eugene Crowley were made for political reasons.
background
Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan were killed in an ambush on the Edenappa Road in south Armagh minutes after they left a meeting in Dundalk Garda station in March 1989.
They were the two most senior members of the RUC to be murdered by the IRA during the Troubles.
Former Detective Sergeant Owen Corrigan said he had been “deeply insulted” by allegations that there had been collusion with the IRA from inside Dundalk Garda station leading to the murders of Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan in 1989.
Giving evidence to the Smithwick Tribunal in Dublin yesterday, the former Garda Special Branch officer said the allegations first arose in a book called Bandit Country published in 2000.
The retired police officer said that earlier allegations published in newspapers suggesting that there had been collusion between Garda officers and the IRA had not been taken seriously.
He pointed out that the author of Bandit Country, Toby Harnden, who is now working in America, had declined to give evidence.
Mr Corrigan said that when he was named under privilege in the House of Commons by Jeffrey Donaldson MP, a British agent who infiltrated the IRA, Kevin Fulton, was in the public gallery.
He claimed Fulton was “a reject from the British Army, a reject from the RUC Special Branch, described as a compulsive liar, a fantasist and an intelligence nuisance by the RUC Chief Constable”.
Mr Corrigan said allegations had been made by Mr Donaldson using Parliamentary privilege in the House of Commons and he had not had a chance to clear his name before his wife Sheila died.
Earlier yesterday, South Belfast MLA Jimmy Spratt rejected a suggestion that the retired Garda sergeant was on first-name terms with former RUC Chief Constable Sir John Hermon.
The former chairman of the Police Federation told the tribunal that he found the suggestion “absolutely incredible” and rejected the possibility that Mr Corrigan had travelled with Sir John in his official police vehicle.
Mr Spratt, who was in charge of Sir John’s bodyguard detachment from 1980 to 1986, said that no member of An Garda Siochana ever travelled in Sir John’s armoured car.
Giving evidence by video-link from Belfast, the DUP Assemblyman said the denials of collusion by Sir John and then Garda Commissioner Eugene Crowley were made for political reasons.
background
Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan were killed in an ambush on the Edenappa Road in south Armagh minutes after they left a meeting in Dundalk Garda station in March 1989.
They were the two most senior members of the RUC to be murdered by the IRA during the Troubles.
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