Son of slain republicans Dominic and Mary McGlinchey claims State failed to properly investigate their murders

A son of slain republicans Dominic and Mary McGlinchey has brought High Court actions claiming the State has failed to properly investigate his parents’ murders.

Dominic Og McGlinchey claims the Irish State has not complied with its constitutional obligations to ensure effective investigations were carried out.

Dominic McGlinchey Snr, who was chief of staff of the Irish National Liberation Army in the 1980s after he left the Irish Republican Army, was shot dead by two gunmen after making a call from a phone box at Hardmans Gardens, Drogheda, Co Louth on February 10th, 1994.

Under McGlinchey’s leadership, the INLA committed several atrocities and murders during the Troubles, resulting in the Co Derry native’s imprisonment both north and south of the border.

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Mary McGlinchey, who was also involved with the INLA, was murdered on January 31st, 1987, in her home in Dundalk, Co Louth.

She was bathing her children when two balaclava-clad gunmen entered her house.

After she pleaded with her attackers not to kill her in front of her young children, they forced her into the bathroom and shot her nine times in the head, neck and chest.

In his action, Dominic Og claims that neither murder was ever properly investigated by the State. In relation to his father’s murder, he believes that several lines of inquiry that were open to investigations were not followed.

He claims nobody has ever been charged, convicted or arrested in connection with his parents’ killings and no cross-border co-operation has occured in relation to the killings.

There was an allegation that the murder was possibly carried out by Loyalist Billy Wright, who himself was murdered in the Maze Prison by an INLA prisoner who smuggled a gun into the facility in 1997.

Wright, who was the leader of the LVF and known as ‘King Rat’, is also believed to have been behind a failed attempt to kill the applicant’s father in June 1993.

Other lines of inquiry allegedly not followed, include that McGlinchey Snr was killed because he was investigating an alleged money laundering link between the Loyalist UVF and a corrupt IRA unit in Dublin.

A further line allegedly not followed is that McGlinchey Snr was killed by the IRA or agents of the UK government because it was known he would not abide by the terms of ceasefire between those parties announced a few months after his murder.

In his mother’s case, Mr McGlinchey claims lines of inquiry that were open to gardaí were not followed up.

These include that his mother was murdered by loyalist terrorists in collusion with agents of the British and Northern Irish security forces, due to tensions between those entities and the INLA during the troubles.

He also believes that his mother’s killing could have been related to “a shoot-to-kill policy” he claims the then-RUC special branch had been engaged in against known republicans.

That alleged policy had been the subject of an investigation by former British senior police officer John Stalker in the 1980s.

He also says that the killing could have been linked to in-fighting in the INLA or as revenge for the murders of two men: Eamonn McMahon and Patrick Mackin, by the INLA.

While the matters were re-opened in 2012, and Mr McGlinchey has had meetings with gardaí in respect of the investigation, he claims his requests to be updated on the probes have not been replied to in any meaningful way.

As a result, Mr McGlinchey, with an address in Tuam, Co Galway has brought High Court proceedings against the Commissioner, the Minister for Justice, Ireland and the Attorney General.

Represented by Ronan Munroe SC, instructed by solicitor Ciaran Mulholland, Mr McGlinchey seeks various orders and declarations in each of his actions.

These include declarations that the respondents have failed to comply with their obligations under the Irish Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights to ensure that effective investigations into the murders occur.

He further seeks a declaration that the respondents failed to comply with the duty to protect Dominic McGlinchey Snr’s life between June 1993, when an attempt was made on his life to the time of his murder in 1994.

The cases came before Ms Justice Niamh Hyland on Monday. The judge on an ex parte basis, granted Mr McGlinchey permission to bring both of his actions against the respondents. The cases will return before the High Court in October.