The Minister for Justice and the Attorney General have concluded that claims of a conspiracy to suppress vital Arms Trial evidence in 1970 are unlikely to be true.
In separate reports issued last night, both Mr O'Donoghue and Mr McDowell say they cannot rule out the possibility of such a conspiracy. But according to Mr O'Donoghue, "While the possibility that an attempt to suppress evidence cannot be ruled out definitively, it seems reasonable to infer . . . on the basis of the analysis of all of the available material that the likelihood is remote."
Mr McDowell's report confirms that before the 1970 Arms Trial the key statement of the former head of Army intelligence, Col Michael Hefferon, was "extensively edited". However, it was, and is, usual practice to edit statements, he said.
Mr McDowell says the edited version of Col Hefferon's statement was probably prepared by gardai in Dublin Castle, under the supervision of prosecution lawyers. However, a separate report from the Garda Commissioner, Mr Patrick Byrne, states baldly that "no member of An Garda Siochana edited any statement taken during the course of the investigation".
The Government appears unlikely to order any further inquiry into the matter since Mr McDowell concludes there would be no point in doing so. The passage of time and the death of key people means that "there is simply no prospect of an official, authoritative, objective and generally accepted history of those events being written now".
The reports were ordered by the Government following an RTE Prime Time programme in April which showed Col Hefferon's statement had been edited to exclude implications that the then minister for defence, Mr Jim Gibbons, had known of and approved the plan to import arms.
The reports also deal with the subsequent revelation in this newspaper that the then minister for justice, Mr Desmond O'Malley, signed a certificate claiming privilege over the main Arms Trial file which included Col Hefferon's original statement.
Last night Mr O'Malley said the reports were "perfectly compatible" with his version of events.