A tribunal investigating alleged Garda collusion in the murder of two RUC officers in 1989 is to go to the High Court to seek possession of a Cabinet document referring to the killings.
The Smithwick tribunal has written to the Government to inform it that it is applying to the court to seek a review of its decision to claim Cabinet confidentiality when refusing to release a report prepared for government by the then minister for justice, Gerard Collins.
Documents that come within the "cabinet confidentiality" category can only be released upon application to the High Court and it is not open to the Government to waive that confidentiality.
The tribunal, chaired by Judge Peter Smithwick, is investigating allegations that members of An Garda Síochána colluded in the fatal shootings of Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Robert Buchanan of the RUC on March 20th, 1989.
The two police officers died in an IRA ambush near the Border as they returned from a meeting with senior gardaí in Dundalk, Co Louth.
The tribunal sought disclosure from the Department of the Taoiseach of documents which the then minister for justice may have used to brief the government on March 21st, 1989, the day after the fatal shootings. The letter, a copy of which has been seen by The Irish Times, states that three documents were identified as being relevant to the request and copies of two of them were supplied.
However, the Department of the Taoiseach refused to release the third document on the basis that it contained notations made by the then assistant secretary to the government. As a result, the Government said, the confidentiality of the document was protected under Article 18.4.3 of the Constitution.
Having reviewed the decision, Judge Smithwick has decided to apply to the High Court to have the document disclosed. A Government spokesman last night confirmed that it had received the letter from the tribunal and would await the High Court proceedings.
Chief Supt Breen was the most senior RUC officer killed by the IRA during the Northern Ireland conflict. Allegations of Garda collusion in the shooting first emerged shortly after the murders.
The case was one of six collusion cases investigated by retired Canadian judge Peter Cory. In his report, Mr Cory quoted from a Garda intelligence report that stated at least 20 IRA members from south Armagh were involved in a very elaborate operation. However, the relatively limited nature of the inquiry did not allow the collusion allegations to be proved or disproved.
On foot of Mr Cory's report, the then minister for justice Michael McDowell ordered an inquiry. The tribunal was established in 2005 and held its first public sitting the following year.
