A FORMER detective sergeant was beaten by the Provisional IRA because he had failed to pay them for a consignment of alcohol, an internal Garda inquiry concluded.
However, the inquiry into the abduction and beating of former detective sergeant Owen Corrigan had no facts to substantiate the conclusion, the Smithwick Tribunal has been told.
Retired Garda chief superintendent Michael Finnegan told the tribunal yesterday he had compiled the report after moves by Mr Corrigan to initiate a claim for compensation as a result of his injuries.
Mr Corrigan was abducted with Francie Tiernan outside the Boyne Valley Hotel in Co Louth in 1995 and imprisoned for a number of days, during which both men were severely beaten. Mr Corrigan had retired from the Garda at the time and Mr Tiernan was described yesterday as a known associate of members of the Provisional IRA.
Neither man made a formal complaint to gardaí as a result of the incident.
Mr Finnegan’s report suggested the men may have failed to pay the IRA for a lorry-load of spirits which they had agreed to dispose of for the organisation. Mr Finnegan told Judge Peter Smithwick this theory was based on “soft intelligence”, gossip and speculation.
His report concluded that the beating administered to Mr Corrigan had “nothing whatsoever to do with Owen Corrigan’s previous service in An Garda Síochána”.
The tribunal heard about Garda notes of interviews conducted with Mr Corrigan. “It was basically preparing the ground for a claim for compensation.”
Mr Finnegan rejected a suggestion from Justin Dillon SC for the tribunal that his report was “a defensive report” to remove any obligation on the Garda to compensate Mr Corrigan.
The tribunal resumes sittings on Tuesday.
