New details have emerged in State papers on the type of weapons bought from a German arms dealer which were at the centre of the 1970 Arms Trial, writes Deagláde Bréadún.
Swift action by the Department of Finance forestalled an attempt by the late Albert Luykx, a defendant in the Arms Trial, to recover money paid to a German arms dealer for the guns at the centre of the crisis, which were never delivered to Ireland.
Newly released secret documents in the National Archives also detail protracted negotiations between the arms supplier and Irish civil servants to recover the funds for the State. The documents indicate there was a separate attempt to import arms in a chartered boat from Spain which was not part of the Arms Trial proceedings.
The central figure in the documents is the German arms dealer, Otto Schlueter. On May 20th, 1970, shortly after the arms crisis became public with the dismissal of Irish ministers, the Irish Consul-General in Hamburg wrote of Schlueter, quoting German security officers:
"He had been in the arms trade all his life and was, in fact, a qualified gun-maker. During the Algerian war (of independence, 1954-62), he had supplied arms to both sides and drawn on himself the enmity of the Red Hand organisation [a right-wing faction in the Algerian conflict], who planted a bomb in his car which had killed his mother. Herr Schlueter rarely travelled abroad..."
Reporting on a meeting with Herr Schlueter at his office on February 11th, 1971, Mr Aidan Mulloy, Ireland's Consul-General in Hamburg at the time, says he explained to the arms dealer that Dáil Éireann's Public Accounts Committee was investigating the alleged purchase of arms from him with State funds. "The Irish authorities were anxious to recover the State monies involved in these transactions. Hence my approach to him."
The weapons in question had been bought by Capt James Kelly and Albert Luykx, both of them charged and acquitted in the Arms Trial, but the guns were never brought into Ireland and remained in Schlueter's possession.
Mr Mulloy writes: "Herr Schlueter replied that as far as he was concerned, the Irish business was closed. The Irish customers had ordered certain goods, made a payment and failed to collect. It was no concern of his what had happened to his customers subsequently, nor was it his concern whether the money with which this payment was made was their own or belonged to the Irish State."
Until these customers had taken delivery of the goods, he would continue to levy storage charges, insurance and interest.
M R Mulloy's account of the meeting continues: "He was, he said, thoroughly fed up with this Irish business and his file on Ireland was 'so thick' (indicating a depth of about three inches). He added, with a smile, 'I can appreciate, Herr Generalkonsul, that you would like to know what's in it.' I replied I was only there to talk about a reimbursement of State monies.
"Herr Schlueter continued that his Irish business had brought him no end of trouble. The press were, for a period, never off his back, 'even putting money down on the table', to get him to reveal his business. The Irish police, too, had been in to see him and even the German state prosecutor (Staatsanwalt), at the request of the Irish Attorney General, had asked him about his Irish business."
In addition, he was "having to pay out 25 Deutschmarks an hour to a competent gun maintenance mechanic to keep the goods oiled and in condition".
Mr Mulloy responded that, in view of all these running costs, it would seem to be in Schlueter's interest to have the matter disposed of quickly: "Could he not sell off the goods and refund us the balance due to us, less his own expenses?"
Mr Mulloy said it was unlikely Schlueter's Irish customers would now be taking delivery.
"He agreed that this was so and made some off-the-cuff comments about their inexperience. Why they couldn't have done better was beyond his understanding. With their war experience in Germany, 'we can get anything through anywhere, even a tank', though he added that some of the goods got through to Ireland."
When leaving the Consul-General to the door at the end of their meeting, he remarked: "People who know nothing about trains shouldn't play with them."
The next meeting between the two took place over a month later, on March 23rd, 1971, and Mr Mulloy presented Schlueter with a statement in German listing the purchases made from him and the amounts paid by Capt Kelly and Albert Luykx.
The weapons included 400 sub-machine-guns, 25 heavy machine-guns, 400 pistols and 250,000 rounds of ammunition.
BEHAVING like a man under pressure, Schlueter said he wanted to get shut of the whole "dirty mess". He had been visited by other "gentlemen in Ireland" in the last few days who also wanted the money back.
They were at present "on holidays" in Amsterdam and would be back at the end of the week.
"He wanted to deal with us rather than with them and he could only do so if I sent him a strongly-worded letter asserting the rights of the Irish State in the matter."
Mr Mulloy continues: "Herr Schlueter was much more outspoken than at our first talk in his criticism of his Irish business partners. 'Children' was a word he used more than once and he confessed he was genuinely shocked at their improvidence - 'spending money with complete unconcern for the value received'."
Now the goods would have to be sold outside the Federal Republic of Germany "as no-one here would buy them".
A subsequent message from Schlueter indicated that the other "gentlemen in Ireland" were coming to his office the following Saturday, March 27th, to seek a refund.
Acting quickly, Dublin decided to send an official from the Department of Finance to Hamburg on that day. "A cablegram was sent to Schlueter asking him to make no commitment involving government funds pending arrival of the official on Saturday."
Schlueter's visitors were Albert Luykx and an associate - "he thought that two other men from Ireland were around but they did not appear in his office".
When Schlueter read out the government cablegram, Luykx "turned pale" at the contents. Luykx left for the airport, apparently without getting any money.
When the Irish official (apparently Anthony Fagan, private secretary to Charles Haughey during the arms crisis) arrived at the office, he handed Schlueter a document claiming "on behalf of the Minister for Finance" a refund of all the monies paid to him by Capt Kelly. Asked how much was being sought, the official said "about £36,000" but Schlueter said he had only received about two-thirds of this amount (£24,000).
He said costs were very high, particularly for transport. "In addition, Schlueter said he paid for a charter boat to take a consignment from Spain to Ireland."
At another point in the negotiations he said "some of the goods got through to Ireland". He is also reported as saying, "This was a separate transaction involving an agent in Spain and that Irish government money was not involved." The money for this purchase came out of the sum provided by Mr Luykx. This sum amounted to £8,500.
There is also a reference in the newly released papers to chartering a "British plane" at a special low rate for transporting freight which Schlueter suspected was a trap.
He asked: "Why should a British air freight company have offered to ship the goods at a rate less than half the standard rate, except that the British government had hoped to grab the lot?"