Dundalk Examiner (Page 1 dated Friday, April 8, 2005) (Page 4 dated 26 March, 2005)
![[Image]](http://cryptome.org/ira-spy-fight-02.jpg)
A Garda detective alleged to be an IRA spy has said he is delighted that a government inquiry which will clear his name is being set up.
Former Special Branch Det. Sgt. Eoin Corrigan has described claims that he worked for the IRA while serving as a Special Branch officer in Dundalk as "total fiction." Mr. Corrigan is to be a key figure in the judicial tribunal chaired by Judge Peter Smithwick into the killing of RUC men Chief Supt. Harry Breen and Supt. Bob Buchanan at Edenappa in March 1989.
They had just crossed the Border on a return journey from Dundalk Garda Station when their car was ambushed Claims that a rogue garda had set up the operation were made in the British media.
Later, Eoin Corrigan was named by Jeffery Donaldson in the House of Commons. Because of Parliamentary privilege, the former garda officer could not take legal action.
Det. Sgt. Corrigan, now Drogheda businessman, has until now refused to speak to the media since the allegations were first made.
He has spoken exclusively to The Dundalk Examiner.
PAISLEY
"Ian Paisley was the first man to shout that there was Garda collusion in the Breen-Buchanan ambush. After that, a lot of people jumped on the band-wagon," said Mr. Corrigan.
"I am absolutely confident that some of those who made these claims will be shown up."
Two of those who reported the allegations of Garda collusion, journalists Kevin Myers and Toby Harnden, are expected to refuse to appear at the tribunal, where they would be questioned about their sources. Both have already been criticised by Judge Peter Cory, the Canadian investigator who examined their claims at the request of the Irish Government.
Det. Sgt Corrigan is confident that the truth about him would emerge from the Smithwick inquiry. But he is uncertain if the whole truth will emerge.
"I don't rule out that, for their own reasons, false information about me may have been fed to the RUC by certain Garda members. How else would Paisley and the others have got my name?"
SUBVERSIVES
At the time, there was friction among Garda officers in Dundalk. "Some of the things that were said about me were very hurtful," said Mr. Corrigan.
"Nobody was more opposed to the IRA than me. I had 30 years of service, in and out of the Special Criminal Court, and keeping surveillance on subversives at great personal risk. I am hurt at the suggestion that I conspired in the Breen-Buchanan killings."
The ex-sergeant said: "Nobody gave the IRA more hassle than I did."
The former Special Branch man also spoke about a Newry convict, Peter Keeley, who provided information to unionist MPs and to Judge Peter Cory.
Keeley who uses the name Kevin Fulton is quoted by Judge Cory as making allegations about Garda collusion.
Fulton appears on British TV regularly wearing a mask and claiming to be a former British spy.
"My lawyers have said they cannot wait to get him in the tribunal witness box. They believe they will take him to pieces - if he turns up," Mr. Corrigan told The Dundalk Examiner.
![[Image]](http://cryptome.org/ira-spy-fight-03.jpg)
DROMAD
The former Special Branch officer also revealed that gardai had no advance information which would have allowed the IRA to set up the ambush.
He said the two RUC men had said before leaving Dundalk Garda Station that they intended to return the way they come - travelling on the N1 from Newry through Dromad. There was an escort waiting for them at Killeen, but they went up a back road.
"This may have been for security reasons. Or they may have changed their minds on the journey, and decided to go the Edenappa way. But one thing is certain, they were followed all the way from Dundalk," said Mr. Corrigan.
The IRA had every Border crossing covered long before those RUC men arrived. Breen was their target. The IRA wanted him because he appeared on TV to talk about the SAS killings of 8 IRA men at Loughgall. He was in charge of that operation, he said.
EXCLUSIVE
Ex-Garda says tribunal allegations are fiction
By Larry Carberry A Garda detective alleged to be an IRA spy has said he is delighted that a government inquiry which will clear his name is being set up.
Former Special Branch Det. Sgt. Eoin Corrigan has described claims that he worked for the IRA while serving as a Special Branch officer in Dundalk as "total fiction." Mr. Corrigan is to be a key figure in the judicial tribunal chaired by Judge Peter Smithwick into the killing of RUC men Chief Supt. Harry Breen and Supt. Bob Buchanan at Edenappa in March 1989.
They had just crossed the Border on a return journey from Dundalk Garda Station when their car was ambushed Claims that a rogue garda had set up the operation were made in the British media.
Later, Eoin Corrigan was named by Jeffery Donaldson in the House of Commons. Because of Parliamentary privilege, the former garda officer could not take legal action.
Det. Sgt. Corrigan, now Drogheda businessman, has until now refused to speak to the media since the allegations were first made.
He has spoken exclusively to The Dundalk Examiner.
PAISLEY
"Ian Paisley was the first man to shout that there was Garda collusion in the Breen-Buchanan ambush. After that, a lot of people jumped on the band-wagon," said Mr. Corrigan.
"I am absolutely confident that some of those who made these claims will be shown up."
Two of those who reported the allegations of Garda collusion, journalists Kevin Myers and Toby Harnden, are expected to refuse to appear at the tribunal, where they would be questioned about their sources. Both have already been criticised by Judge Peter Cory, the Canadian investigator who examined their claims at the request of the Irish Government.
Det. Sgt Corrigan is confident that the truth about him would emerge from the Smithwick inquiry. But he is uncertain if the whole truth will emerge.
"I don't rule out that, for their own reasons, false information about me may have been fed to the RUC by certain Garda members. How else would Paisley and the others have got my name?"
SUBVERSIVES
At the time, there was friction among Garda officers in Dundalk. "Some of the things that were said about me were very hurtful," said Mr. Corrigan.
"Nobody was more opposed to the IRA than me. I had 30 years of service, in and out of the Special Criminal Court, and keeping surveillance on subversives at great personal risk. I am hurt at the suggestion that I conspired in the Breen-Buchanan killings."
The ex-sergeant said: "Nobody gave the IRA more hassle than I did."
The former Special Branch man also spoke about a Newry convict, Peter Keeley, who provided information to unionist MPs and to Judge Peter Cory.
Keeley who uses the name Kevin Fulton is quoted by Judge Cory as making allegations about Garda collusion.
Fulton appears on British TV regularly wearing a mask and claiming to be a former British spy.
"My lawyers have said they cannot wait to get him in the tribunal witness box. They believe they will take him to pieces - if he turns up," Mr. Corrigan told The Dundalk Examiner.
DROMAD
The former Special Branch officer also revealed that gardai had no advance information which would have allowed the IRA to set up the ambush.
He said the two RUC men had said before leaving Dundalk Garda Station that they intended to return the way they come - travelling on the N1 from Newry through Dromad. There was an escort waiting for them at Killeen, but they went up a back road.
"This may have been for security reasons. Or they may have changed their minds on the journey, and decided to go the Edenappa way. But one thing is certain, they were followed all the way from Dundalk," said Mr. Corrigan.
The IRA had every Border crossing covered long before those RUC men arrived. Breen was their target. The IRA wanted him because he appeared on TV to talk about the SAS killings of 8 IRA men at Loughgall. He was in charge of that operation, he said.
