Castlerea Four and decommissioning

national | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis

Saturday May 15, 2004 22:41

by Conan Drumm

conandrumm at hotmail dot com

Was Garda Jerry Mac Cabe killed in revenge?

In the recent debate, coverage and analysis of the possible trade-off involving the release from Castlerea of the killers of Garda Jerry McCabe a crucial background factor has perhaps been overlooked.

To begin with there is the issue of timing. Who leaked the fact that the release was part of last October's negotiations? Can it be coincidental that the issue surfaced at the anniversary of the death of Clareman Hugh Hehir?

Hugh Hehir was an IRA member on "active service" who was shot, and subsequently died of his wounds, in the aftermath of an attempted armed robbery of a post office at Caher Co. Clare. This happened in early May of 1988. The anniversary of his death is May 6.

A contemporary report, which we may take it follows the official version of events, sets out what transpired:

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"Two gunmen tried to raid a post office in Caher near Feakle in Co.Clare. In an ensuing gun battle with the Gardai one of the raiders was shot and the other escaped by hijacking a truck. The wounded man died later in hospital. He was named as Hugh Hehir from Ennis and he is believed by the Gardai to be a member of the IRA. He spent four years in Long Kesh in the seventies.

"A sum of money had just been delivered to the small post office when two armed men knocked at the door. The postmistress opened the door and screamed so loudly that the men made off. She closed the door and ran to a neighbour where she contacted the post office in Feakle. At this stage the two men had second thoughts and tried to gain entry to the premises while at the same time the garda escort which accompanied the van delivering the money had reached Feakle post office. The two gardai, one of whom was armed, returned to Caher and attempted to block the road when they saw the raiders. The man who was driving the getaway car fired several shots at the Gardai. One shot was fired in return, hitting the driver.

"Initially the IRA in Belfast said that Hehir had no connection with the organisation but, according to today's news, an IRA spokesman described him as a volunteer."
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It was suggested in the aftermath of the killing of Garda Jerry McCabe in Adare that revenge rather than robbery may have been the motivation for the attack. It was pointed out in support of this that the gang seemed to make no attempt to take the £100,000 that had just been or was in the process of being delivered to the post office.

In July of last year a comment contributor to Indymedia wrote (inter alia) what may be widely believed in 'republican' circles:

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http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=60593
by Janus Wednesday, Jul 30 2003, 5:30pm
....."I note you also duck the fact that McCabe killed an unarmed man in 1988 when Hugh Hehir was shot dead. Doesn't fit into your vision of him as a cool, clean hero to know he killed a man trying to surrender and then gloated about it to that man's friends and family."....
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If this is the accepted version of events in 'republican' circles then it would lend credence to the theory that it was a revenge killing.

It would be useful to know who was with Hehir on the raid in Caher in May 1988. Was it perhaps one of those currently in Castlerea? Or were any of the four prisoners members of the same "active service unit" as Hehir?

In any event, readers of the recent notices section of An Phoblacht will have read the following:

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http://www.anphoblacht.com/notices/
Notices
13 May, 2004
"HEHIR, Hugh (16th Ann). In proud and loving memory of Volunteer Hugh Hehir, who died on active service on 6 May 1988. Always remembered by the Republican Prisoners, Castlerea."
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At a commorative assembly in Clarecastle on Sunday May 2 1997 to mark the 11th anniversary of Hugh Hehir's death a gathering of some 200 people heard the guest speaker, Arnie O'Connell from Cork who had spent 18 years in Portlaoise Jail say ,``And let's be realistic about decommissioning,'' he said, ``there will be none until the British have left Ireland.'' (reported by An Phoblacht on Thursday 22 May 1997)

It is not unreasonable to suspect, until it is proven otherwise, that Garda Jerry McCabe was in fact murdered - if the primary motivation was to kill him rather than to rob the money.

That a murder conviction was not secured was, it was alleged at the time of the trial (for instance see the Examiner's coverage), due to intimidation of a crucial witness. A murder conviction would have resulted in a mandatory 40 year sentence and even less 'wriggle room' than the government now has at its disposal.

Is the price of releasing the Castlerea four now verified total decommissioning? Yet, is it reasonable to conclude that the IRA will never completely decommission, that Munster has more bunkers than de Chastelaine has seen?