Donegal North East Deputy Padraig MacLochlainn has been criticised over remarks he made last night in relation to the Smithwick Tribunal report.
The Smithwick Tribunal report found that collusion between members of the Gardai and the IRA took place in the killing of two senior RUC officers, Harry Breen and Pat Buchanan, after they left a Dundalk Garda station on 20 March 1989.
Speaking on Tonight with Vincent Browne last night, Deputy MacLochlainn said that the IRA members who shot Breen and Buchanan “had a duty as much as Michael Collins and the IRA of the War of Independence, as much as Padraig Pearse and James Connolly.”
He said they “had a right to take a war in the absence of political leadership” and said this was “the context” in which the murders in Dundalk happened…
A lawyer for the Breen family, criticised his comments.
John McBurney, also appearing on Tonight with Vincent Browne said the remarks were “insulting” and “offensive”….
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