A P P E A R A N C E S The Sole Member: His Honour Judge Peter Smithwick For the Tribunal: Mrs. Mary Laverty, SC Mr. Justin Dillon, SC Mr. Dara Hayes, BL Mr. Fintan Valentine, BL Instructed by: Jane McKevitt Solicitor For the Commissioner of An Garda Siochana: Mr. Diarmuid McGuinness, SC Mr. Michael Durack, SC Mr. Gareth Baker, BL Instructed by: Mary Cummins CSSO For Owen Corrigan: Mr. Jim O'Callaghan, SC Mr. Darren Lehane, BL Instructed by: Fintan Lawlor Lawlor Partners Solicitors For Leo Colton: Mr. Paul Callan, SC Mr. Eamon Coffey, BL Instructed by: Dermot Lavery Solicitors For Finbarr Hickey: Fionnuala O'Sullivan, BL Instructed by: James MacGuill & Co. For the Attorney General: Ms. Nuala Butler, SC Mr. Douglas Clarke, SC Instructed by: CSSO For Freddie Scappaticci: Eavanna Fitzgerald, BL Pauline O'Hare Instructed by: Michael Flanigan Solicitor For Kevin Fulton: Mr. Neil Rafferty, QC Instructed by: John McAtamney Solicitor For Breen Family: Mr. John McBurney For Buchanan Family/ Heather Currie: Ernie Waterworth McCartan Turkington Breen Solicitors For the PSNI: Mark Robinson, BL NOTICE: A WORD INDEX IS PROVIDED AT THE BACK OF THIS TRANSCRIPT. THIS IS A USEFUL INDEXING SYSTEM, WHICH ALLOWS YOU TO QUICKLY SEE THE WORDS USED IN THE TRANSCRIPT, WHERE THEY OCCUR AND HOW OFTEN. EXAMPLE: - DOYLE [2] 30:28 45:17 THE WORD “DOYLE” OCCURS TWICE PAGE 30, LINE 28 PAGE 45, LINE 17 I N D E X Witness Page No. Line No. OWEN CORRIGAN EXAMINED BY MR. O'CALLAGHAN 6 1 JIM LANE EXAMINED BY MR. VALENTINE 75 1 CROSS-EXAMINED BY MR. ROBINSON 84 23 CROSS-EXAMINED BY MR. LEHANE 92 28 CROSS-EXAMINED BY MR. ROBINSON 95 20 RE-EXAMINED BY MR. VALENTINE 97 9 Smithwick Tribunal - 30 July 2012 - Day 118 1 1 THE TRIBUNAL RESUMED ON THE 30TH OF JULY, 2012, AS FOLLOWS: 2 3 CHAIRMAN: Good morning. 4 5 MR. DILLON: Chairman, we have two witnesses for you today, 6 this morning, it will be Mr. Owen Corrigan whose 7 examination will continue, I think Mr. O'Callaghan will 8 examine him this morning, and this afternoon we will have a 9 witness at 2:00, Mr. Jim Lane. And I think at the outset, 10 it might be helpful if, this morning, and I think Miss 11 McKevitt is attempting to elicit, if parties could indicate 12 their availability or, more accurately, their lack of 13 availability during the month of August, so that we can 14 determine when it will be possible to have sittings, if at 15 all, during the month of August. But I think we should -- 16 hopefully we should be all right for this week, even though 17 this week goes into August. We will find out -- 18 Ms. McKevitt is going around the room. We can deal with 19 that closer to one o'clock 20 21 CHAIRMAN: Mr. Durack, I was looking over my notes and I 22 wondered whether your cross-examination is going to include 23 any material relating to this witness's serious allegations 24 against senior members of the Garda Siochana in Dundalk, or 25 are you accepting his evidence on that? It's a matter for 26 you. 27 28 MR. DURACK: Sorry, I am not accepting his evidence in 29 relation to it, but at the moment I hadn't adverted to it, 30 I have to say. Perhaps I can come back to it. Doyle Court Reporters Ltd. Smithwick Tribunal - 30 July 2012 - Day 118 2 1 2 CHAIRMAN: All right. Yes. 3 4 MR. O'CALLAGHAN: Chairman, just before I start my 5 examination of Mr. Corrigan, you will recall circumstances 6 that last Tuesday I made my application in respect of the 7 SB50, and at the end of that application last Tuesday, 8 Mr. Robinson, on behalf of the PSNI, indicated that he 9 intended to call a witness, Mr. -- or Detective 10 Superintendent Roy McComb, who would give evidence in 11 respect of national security matters, and Mr. Robinson 12 indicated that that witness would be called the following 13 day, Wednesday. Now, I was informed prior to that, that 14 Mr. McComb wasn't going to deal with that evidence, that 15 someone else was going to deal with that evidence, but when 16 Mr. McComb was here on Wednesday I did ask him specifically 17 what problem did the PSNI have in disclosing the grading of 18 the SB50, and I was stopped by Mr. Dillon, and indeed by 19 Mr. Robinson, and I was informed you can't ask this witness 20 the question, he is not dealing with it. And I was told 21 that the PSNI would be calling another witness, namely 22 today, Monday, to deal with the matter. And now I am 23 informed this morning, and maybe Mr. Robinson wants to make 24 a submission in respect of this, but I am informed this 25 morning that, in fact, Mr. McComb is going to deal with 26 that matter but he is going to come back at a future date. 27 If that is the case, Chairman, I think it is very unfair to 28 Mr. Corrigan. We were told that Mr. McComb couldn't deal 29 with the matter. I asked him questions. I was stopped. 30 And now we are told he is. The effect of it all is that Doyle Court Reporters Ltd. Smithwick Tribunal - 30 July 2012 - Day 118 3 1 Mr. Corrigan is going to be gone from the witness-box by 2 the time this evidence is given by the PSNI, whichever 3 witness it is, and he won't have an opportunity to comment 4 on the grading. 5 6 MR. DILLON: Maybe, on behalf of the Tribunal, if I might 7 reply. Clearly, Mr. Corrigan will not be put in a position 8 of being prejudiced by whatever the evidence on behalf of 9 the PSNI may disclose, if I can put it that way, if any 10 issue arises, and if, indeed, Mr. Corrigan has left the 11 witness-box finally by that time, then the Tribunal 12 certainly will afford him an opportunity to deal with the 13 matter. It's not the best timing, I accept that, but we 14 are in a difficult situation of holiday periods and we are 15 trying to accommodate as many people as possible and, at 16 the same time, to make as much progress as possible. 17 18 CHAIRMAN: Yes. 19 20 MR. DILLON: So, I think Mr. Corrigan can take it that he 21 will not be prejudiced if that should be the case, and I 22 don't know because I don't know what evidence is going to 23 be given by any evidence offered by the PSNI at a later 24 date. It's probably going to be the case that Mr. Corrigan 25 is going to be in the position, maybe, of having to come 26 back and, again, I put it very much in terms of maybe, to 27 deal with financial matters, but when we get that 28 disclosure, then we will know where we stand. I have made 29 it quite clear the disclosure may make it clear there is no 30 necessity to go into these matters, in which case that'll Doyle Court Reporters Ltd. Smithwick Tribunal - 30 July 2012 - Day 118 4 1 be the situation. 2 3 CHAIRMAN: Yes. Mr. Robinson, do you have remarks you want 4 to make? 5 6 MR. ROBINSON: Yes, Mr. Chairman. First of all, I 7 apologise for any inconvenience to the parties. A decision 8 was taken that Roy McComb would be the witness to give the 9 evidence regarding the SB50. Unfortunately he is on leave 10 this week, and both myself and my instructing solicitor 11 have other engagements next week. And, certainly, arising 12 out of the evidence of last Wednesday, I believe there are 13 a number of queries raised with the PSNI regarding the 14 evidence. Efforts are being made to address those issues 15 and it's envisaged that those can be dealt with at the same 16 time as Mr. McComb's return. Again, that needs to be 17 finalised regarding timings, but there was certainly no 18 intention to unfairly prejudice any party. 19 20 CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much. Now, I want to say of 21 course that anything of that nature where the evidence from 22 the PSNI is postponed to any extent, Mr. O'Callaghan's 23 client, Mr. Corrigan, must not be prejudiced by it, and I 24 agree, that of course he may have to give further evidence 25 if he thinks that's necessary to deal with this additional 26 PSNI from the PSNI. 27 28 On a purely housekeeping point, may I say that it looks now 29 as if we are coming to the end of the present oral 30 evidence. Now, if anything further is needed, there may be Doyle Court Reporters Ltd. Smithwick Tribunal - 30 July 2012 - Day 118 5 1 a change of venue, but parties will all be notified of that 2 have in due course in good time. Sorry, there was 3 something else you wanted to say, Mr. O'Callaghan? 4 5 MR. O'CALLAGHAN: Chairman, only the point that no 6 explanation has been provided to you, Sir, as to why I 7 couldn't question Mr. McComb last Wednesday on the national 8 security issues.