State Papers: Minister feared retaliation over failure to prosecute republican terrorist Dessie O'Hare
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A senior government minister expressed fear in 1980 that a failure to provide clear and speedy decisions on whether or not to prosecute suspects for offences committed in Northern Ireland could “result in bombs in Border towns on our side or in Dublin".
State papers show the minister for justice, Gerry Collins, expressed his concern to taoiseach Charles Haughey about the potential impact of a decision by the DPP not to prosecute well-known paramilitary figure Dessie O’Hare for the attempted murder of a prison officer in Co Armagh the previous year.
Mr Collins noted the authorities in Northern Ireland were concerned about delays in the operation of the Criminal Law (Jurisdiction) Act 1976, which allowed someone to be prosecuted in the Republic for an offence committed in Northern Ireland, particularly in relation to O’Hare.
British prime minister Margaret Thatcher had also expressed her anger to the Irish authorities about not using the legislation to prosecute O’Hare — a republican terrorist nicknamed the Border Fox.
The case arose after a British army foot patrol came under fire in Keady, Co Armagh, on June 9, 1979, before their attackers hijacked a lorry to escape the gun battle.
As they were fleeing to the border in the lorry, the three paramilitaries involved in the attack — Dessie O’Hare, Eugene McNamee and Peadar McIlvenna — also opened fire on an off-duty prison officer outside his home.
However, the prison officer returned fire with his legally held weapon at the occupants of the vehicle and fatally wounded McIlvenna. A short time later, another vehicle dropped O’Hare and McNamee, who had both suffered gunshot wounds, as well as the body of McIlvenna off at Monaghan Hospital.
In his letter to the taoiseach, Mr Collins said gardaí had submitted a file to the DPP in August 1979 and there had been a general belief among An Garda Síochána and the RUC that adequate evidence was available to charge O’Hare and McNamee.
Mr Collins was made aware on March 28, 1980, by the attorney general, Anthony Hederman, that a decision had been taken not to prosecute either man.
However, he noted the gardaí had not been notified of the decision but said he was obliged to accept the decisions of the DPP and attorney general.
Unless there was communication about decisions, the minister expressed fear there could be “retaliatory” action from certain groups in Northern Ireland who might regard a decision not to prosecute as indicating “a lack of willingness on the part of the authorities here to deal with seriously flagrant breaches of the law".
“It could indeed result in bombs in Border towns on our side or in Dublin,” said Mr Collins.
Documents now declassified show British officials telling their Irish counterparts how it was difficult to understand how neither O’Hare nor McNamee had been arrested, interrogated and charged.
One diplomat with the British embassy in Dublin said the British were “outraged by the inadequacy of the action taken”. However, an Irish official replied he could not accept the implication that gardaí had been negligent or had acted outside the law.
He pointed out the British official might have relied on an incorrect version of events as O’Hare had been arrested on his release from hospital in Monaghan and was in jail.
Secret files also noted O’Hare was serving a nine-year prison sentence at the time for possession of a firearm.