A former IRA man told the High Court in Dublin yesterday that Co Louth farmer Mr Thomas Murphy was the most senior IRA man he ever met.
Mr Eamon Collins said Mr Murphy told him he was representing the IRA army council at an IRA inquiry into a botched IRA shooting in Newry in October 1983. He said Mr Murphy was also present at a social gathering organised in Dundalk in November 1983 to impress IRA "generals".
Mr Collins (44), a native of Newry, was giving evidence on the fifth day of an action by Mr Murphy, of Ballybinaby, Hackballs
cross, Dundalk. Mr Murphy says he was libelled in an article dealing with an IRA campaign to bomb seaside resorts in Britain which was published by the Sun- day Times on June 30th, 1985.
In court yesterday, Mr Collins said he currently lives in Northern Ireland with his wife and four children. In 1978 he began work as a customs officer in the North and became involved in the IRA. He was involved in setting up bombings, explosions, murders and other operations.
In October 1983 he was involved in a plan to shoot an RUC detective in Newry but the operation went wrong and a Catholic man was killed.
On November 20th, 1983, he attended a social function in an upstairs room of a bar in Dundalk. His officer commanding, Len Hardy, told him it had been organised to "impress the generals." Mr Collins said he understood them to be most significant players in the IRA - Tom Murphy and another man.
That was the first time he saw Tom Murphy. He said Mr Murphy was identified during conversation by Len Hardy and by Brendan Burns, a senior operative in the south Armagh IRA.
He saw Tom Murphy again at a house in Dundalk, where the inquiry continued into his involvement in the operation which had led to the wrong person being shot. Mr Murphy introduced himself to him and said he was there as a representative of the army council. He asked him to go over again the details of the Newry shooting and told him later he was fully exonerated.
Mr Collins said he was extremely impressed by Mr Murphy's manner and professionalism. He regarded him as an "extremely impressive and diplomatic man".
Asked if he could identify Mr Murphy, he pointed to the plaintiff in the public gallery. Mr Collins said he returned to active duties with the IRA until he broke under interrogation in Gough Barracks following an IRA mortar attack in Newry in which nine RUC officers were killed. He said he was not involved in the attack, but after extensive interrogation over five days, including physical beatings, he made a detailed statement about his IRA activities between 1978 and 1985.
He was charged but was acquitted on all charges after the court ruled his statement was inadmissible because he had been subject to inhuman and degrading treatment. More than 40 people had been brought in as a result of his statement and some made statements and were later imprisoned. After his release and debriefing he worked in a variety of jobs, including with homeless children in Dublin. He developed health problems and had a triple bypass operation.
In 1995 he was involved in a TV programme on his time in the IRA and also wrote an autobiography, Killing Rage, published early last year. He had apprehensions about his safety as a result of giving evidence. The Sunday Times had paid £15,000 towards security at his home and had offered to pay up to £10,000 if he felt he had to leave his home for a time.
He said he was taking on a very senior man in the organisation. "If Tom Murphy decided I should be killed, I would be killed. And that's the power he had at his fingertips."
He found it very difficult to give evidence against Tom Murphy. He had been "part of the same struggle" and came from the same people.
Cross-examined by Mr Eamon Leahy SC, for Mr Murphy, he said he had been charged with five murders and acquitted of those and could not be tried for them again. When he left the court he decided to spend the rest of his life working for peace and for an alternative. He got an £18,000 advance for his book.
