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 CROSS-EXAMINED BY MR. O'CALLAGHAN 4 1 Smithwick Tribunal - 1 August 2012 - Day 119 1 1 THE TRIBUNAL RESUMED ON THE 1ST AUGUST 2012 AS FOLLOWS: 2 3 MR. DILLON: Chairman, we have one witness for you today, 4 it's the continuing examination of Mr. Corrigan. Before we 5 deal with that, possibly we might be able to do a bit of 6 housekeeping in terms of availability. I have had a brief 7 conversation with Mr. O'Callaghan. It seems that 8 Mr. Corrigan would prefer if there weren't a sitting on 9 Friday, if he could have Friday to himself. That being the 10 case, the matters will resume at the end of August. Now, 11 one date which we had canvassed was the 27th of August, but 12 it's been drawn to my attention that that's a public 13 holiday in Northern Ireland. So it seems that on the 28th, 14 which is a Tuesday, we should be in a position to resume. 15 And I wonder if Mr. Robinson could let you know possibly at 16 this stage whether he'll be in a position to adduce the 17 evidence which he said he was going to offer to you in 18 relation to the question of the redactions of 19 Mr. McConville's evidence. 20 21 MR. ROBINSON: Yes, Mr. Chairman, that date was raised this 22 morning by your team. I'll certainly take instructions and 23 aim for that date, and, if I can get that confirmed, that 24 can be conveyed to your team. 25 26 CHAIRMAN: Yes, thank you very much, Mr. Robinson. 27 28 MR. DILLON: That being so then, hopefully we'll be able to 29 resume on the 28th and -- all going well, and, let us hope 30 for the last day, Mr. Corrigan will come back on the 29th Doyle Court Reporters Ltd. Smithwick Tribunal - 1 August 2012 - Day 119 2 1 -- yes, the 29th, which is a Wednesday, of August, and, as 2 I say, we will all hope that's the last day, but it may not 3 be; it all depends on how things work out. 4 5 CHAIRMAN: Would that be the 29th rather than the 28th? 6 7 MR. DILLON: The 28th might be better to devote to the 8 question of the evidence you will hear in relation to the 9 redactions. 10 11 CHAIRMAN: Will we need the full day for that, do you 12 think, Mr. Robinson? 13 14 MR. ROBINSON: Possibly a two-hour block, possibly. 15 16 MR. DILLON: What I might suggest, Chairman, is that you 17 hear the evidence, and then I think you'll want to consider 18 your decision, and if you are in a position to consider 19 your decision during the afternoon, you can deliver it the 20 following day, and that's in ease of Mr. Corrigan as well, 21 because he is entitled to know what the position is in 22 regard to that. And, in addition, the Tribunal may well 23 have made progress in relation to the recent intelligence 24 it has received, and again, in ease of Mr. Corrigan, it can 25 be dealt with on the 29th. 26 27 CHAIRMAN: Very good. 28 29 MR. ROBINSON: I certainly endorse that view. 30 Doyle Court Reporters Ltd. Smithwick Tribunal - 1 August 2012 - Day 119 3 1 CHAIRMAN: There will be an alternative venue, it will not 2 be here, but we have been inquiring about an alternative 3 venue, and everybody will be notified where that is, and it 4 will have similar facilities to here. Thank you very much. 5 6 MR. ROBINSON: I am obliged. 7 8 MR. DILLON: In that case, if Mr. O'Callaghan would care to 9 continue. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Doyle Court Reporters Ltd. Smithwick Tribunal - 1 August 2012 - Day 119 4 1 OWEN CORRIGAN CONTINUED TO BE CROSS-EXAMINED BY 2 MR. O'CALLAGHAN AS FOLLOWS: 3 4 MR. O'CALLAGHAN: Thank you, Chairman. 5 1 Q. Mr. Corrigan, on the last day, we looked at the background 6 to the establishment of this Tribunal and your belief as to 7 what is the reason this Tribunal was established and what 8 led to its establishment, do you recall that? 9 A. I do, yes. 10 2 Q. What I want to do today is to start by looking briefly at 11 the 20th March 1989 the day the officers were murdered, and 12 then to look at the two pieces of evidence that are against 13 you; the only piece of evidence against you suggesting 14 collusion in the murders of Breen and Buchanan, that is the 15 evidence of Mr. Keeley and Mr. Hurst. Were you aware on 16 the 20th March 1989 that Chief Superintendent Breen and 17 Superintendent Buchanan were to come to Dundalk Station for 18 a meeting? 19 A. No, I was not, Mr. Chairman, I wasn't aware of that. 20 3 Q. And you are aware where you were when you heard that the 21 officers had been murdered, isn't that correct? 22 A. I was, yes. 23 4 Q. And you were asked by a number of counsel for the Tribunal 24 and others as to what you were doing before that, isn't 25 that so? 26 A. Yes. 27 5 Q. And in fairness to you, you say you can't remember? 28 A. That's right, because it was no ordinary day, like, to me, 29 and I would have been -- I was engaged on duties of a 30 routine matter, and, at the time that the word came in, Doyle Court Reporters Ltd. Smithwick Tribunal - 1 August 2012 - Day 119 5 1 there was a number of us in the Detective Branch office. 2 That was it. 3 6 Q. Are you aware that a number of other members of An Garda 4 Siochana and a civilian woman working for the Garda 5 Siochana, have also given evidence to the Chairman that 6 they couldn't remember what they were doing on the day of 7 the 20th March 1989? 8 A. Well, I am aware that they gave evidence, but I haven't 9 read their statements, or not aware of the contents, you 10 know. 11 7 Q. I just want to recount them to you for the record: Garda 12 Michael Johnson on day 12, Mr. Nora Burns on day 15, 13 Detective Garda Mick O'Driscoll on day 38, Detective Garda 14 John Fintan Kenny on day 38, Detective Garda John Gerard 15 O'Connor on day 15 and Detective Garda Tom Fox on day 23, 16 all of them have given evidence that they were unable to 17 recollect what they were doing on that day. 18 A. Yes. 19 8 Q. You are now aware of that, is that so? 20 A. Yes, I am aware now. 21 9 Q. In respect of the murders themselves, these murders took 22 place in Northern Ireland, isn't that correct? 23 A. That is correct, yes. 24 10 Q. And because of that, would responsibility for investigation 25 of the murders rest with the RUC? 26 A. Oh, absolutely. 27 11 Q. Now, there was an investigation conducted from Dundalk, 28 isn't that so? 29 A. There was, yes. 30 12 Q. And that was an investigation conducted by Superintendent Doyle Court Reporters Ltd. Smithwick Tribunal - 1 August 2012 - Day 119 6 1 Connolly? 2 A. That's correct, yes. 3 13 Q. And were you asked by Superintendent Connolly to be part of 4 this inquiry? 5 A. No. 6 14 Q. It's been suggested to you by Mr. Dillon that you could 7 have sought to involve yourself in this inquiry by, in 8 effect, gate-crashing his team of investigators; would that 9 be possible? 10 A.