After Smithwick, focus moves to other killings

The tribunal's finding of Garda collusion in the murders of two senior RUC officers poses questions about other killings on the border, writes Barry Cummins.

The car in which RUC Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan were shot dead on March 20, 1989. Picture: RUC photograph courtesy of RTE Prime Time

The findings by Judge Peter Smithwick that a garda or garda­ colluded in the murders of RUC Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan has sent shockwaves through An Garda Si­ochana.

But while the finding is dramatic, it is not surprising that the IRA would have been able to threaten, coerce or fool a garda into passing information on to it. That is what the IRA did - it thrived on the ...