Vital evidence which could have fundamentally altered the State's case in the 1970s arms trial was improperly withheld from prosecution lawyers, according to an RTE programme to be broadcast tonight.
The Prime Time programme, Evidence of the Colonel, says it has established that the original statement of evidence from the late Col Michael Hefferon, director of military intelligence, was heavily edited before it reached the attorney general, Mr Colm Condon SC, to form a key part of the prosecution's case.
The original statement from Col Hefferon, taken by officers of the Special Branch on May 30th, 1970, heavily implicated the minister for defence, Mr Jim Gibbons, in knowledge of the arms importation activities of Capt James Kelly.
Sixteen sections of that statement, according to Prime Time, were removed before an edited version was forwarded to the attorney general and later included in the book of evidence, on which the trial was based.
Mr Condon has told the programme-makers that he never saw the longer version of Col Hefferon's statement.
The sections removed made reference to Col Hefferon informing Mr Gibbons about efforts by Capt Kelly to purchase arms during his trips abroad between October 1969 and April 1970.
The arms trial followed the sacking of three government ministers, Mr Charles Haughey, Mr Micheal O Morain and Mr Neil Blaney, by the then Taoiseach, Mr Jack Lynch, and the resignation of a fourth, Mr Kevin Boland.
The Fianna Fail government was under severe pressure and in danger of collapse at the time.
In tonight's programme Mr Patrick MacEntee SC says that had prosecution lawyers been supplied with Col Hefferon's full statement, it was likely Mr Gibbons would have been charged with conspiracy to import arms.
Because Mr Gibbons was the chief prosecution witness in the case, Mr MacEntee accepts that cases against other defendants might have been withdrawn.
Mr MacEntee thought it probable that Capt Kelly, the Army officer reporting to Col Hefferon about his efforts to import arms, would not have been charged.
The same could have held true for Mr John Kelly of the IRA and for the Belgian businessman Mr Albert Luykx.
Col Hefferon's original witness statement was discovered among State papers released last January under the 30-year rule. It was unearthed by Capt Kelly from files made available by the Department of Justice and is described by the programme as "possibly sensational".