THE SMITHWICK Tribunal is to respond to a request for an interim report this afternoon.
Minister for Justice Alan Shatter sought the report, to be laid before the Dáil by today, and a final report by the end of November. The tribunal, which was established in 2005, has so far cost about €8 million.
Mr Shatter said the request did not represent a curtailment of the tribunal’s inquiry into suggestions of Garda collusion – or collusion “by other State employees” – in the murders of Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan. The officers were killed in Co Armagh just north of the Border as they returned from a meeting in Dundalk Garda station on March 20th, 1989. The IRA claimed responsibility for the killings. Chief Supt Breen was the most senior policeman to be killed during the Troubles.
A spokeswoman for Mr Shatter said he would publish correspondence between himself and the tribunal this week, possibly today. Mr Shatter has acknowledged he did not consult with tribunal chairman Judge Peter Smithwick immediately before the Dáil motion requiring the tribunal to produce the reports.
But Mr Shatter said: “Some time ago Judge Smithwick indicated to me that the tribunal would be able to conclude its work within the timescale now contemplated by the motion.”
