Ireland accused of ‘wasting seven years’ in Kieran Doherty inquest
The Irish government has been accused of “wasting” more than seven years in an inquest into the death of a dissident republican.
Kieran Doherty, 31, was found dead on the Braehead Road in Londonderry close to the Irish border on February 24, 2010. He had been kidnapped, stripped, bound and shot.
He was reported to have been involved with the dissident republican group the Real IRA, which claimed responsibility for his death.
A number of preliminary hearings have taken place ahead of a full inquest into his death, however those involved are waiting for information from Ireland’s police, An Garda Siochana, and Chief State Solicitor’s Office (CSSO).
A preliminary hearing on Tuesday morning heard a letter dated April 7 had been received from the CSSO which “sets out a procedure” under the 2019 International Co-operation Act around a request for witness evidence.
Ian Skelt KC, counsel to Coroner Brian Sherrard, described it as a “matter of concern”.
“It is not witnesses that you are seeking but material, and there has been quite a long history of your office corresponding and interacting with the CSSO, seeking material, and it may be something of a surprise that we’ve received this letter, framed as it is, as a request for witness evidence without specifically referring to material, and there had been ongoing correspondence about the supply of material,” he said.
Mr Sherrard said it will be very difficult for the inquest to proceed without first knowing what material, if anything, gardai may hold concerning Mr Doherty and the circumstances around his death.
Stephen Toal KC, acting for the Doherty family, said they feel they are back to square one with the last seven-and-a-half years having been wasted.
He said the coroner’s office “cannot be faulted”, having first contacted the southern authorities about the case in 2017, and having “done everything to bring it to this point”.
“However seven-and-a-half years have now been wasted and after all that time the Irish state is still silent on what information they hold,” he told the hearing.
“It’s unfortunate to say this, but it is either incompetence or it is deliberate and it follows a familiar pattern to all of us who deal with cases in this area.”
Mr Toal said there were similar delays and “years wasted” in the inquest into the death of GAA official Sean Brown.
“There seems to be a fault in the system, and recent examples only make that worse. We have the Dublin Monaghan bombings case where the Irish government was asked by the Police Ombudsman to deliver relevant files, and just like this case seven years passed and nothing was done, and those victims had to bring judicial review proceedings down in Dublin to force this issue,” he said.
“We also know that this Irish government have refused to establish a parallel inquiry into the Omagh bomb, and all of those things lead this Doherty family to conclude that this Irish government are simply not making any effort and trying to avoid accountability by whatever means, and that is a matter of grave concern to them.
“As things stand, the Doherty family have now spent 15 years waiting for the truth. At one end you have the British government and MI5 whose role as we all know in this inquest into this death is dealt with in a report by Lord Carlisle, and at the other end we have the Irish government who are being even more obstructive because they’re not even telling us what they possess.
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“Its really really difficult to see how this matter is going to be progressed without genuine engagement from the Irish government and its state agencies.”
Mr Sherrard pointed out the Irish government is not represented in the matter to answer to any criticisms.
Mr Skelt said the coroner can invite representatives from the Irish government and An Garda Siochana to attend and engage.
The simple solution to this is they simply commit to writing what they are going to do to progress this inquest.
Mr Toal said he would welcome the Irish government’s attendance, but said the family remains sceptical.
“The simple solution to this is they simply commit to writing what they are going to do to progress this inquest … just tell us what information you have and how long it will take you to provide that to this inquest,” he said.
Mr Sherrard indicated he favoured inviting the Irish government to send a representative to attend a hearing, expressing concern about the “considerable drift” in the case.
“Just as we thought that perhaps we may be able to make some progress, this has rather taken the rug from under my feet,” he added.
“I propose to write again to the Chief State Solicitor’s Office … and to alert them to the fact that a date has been placed for a further preliminary, and to invite them to respond in writing and also to extend an invitation should they wish to defend their position, or to assert their position at the inquest. I will certainly make room for them to be heard in terms of this preliminary step.”
Another preliminary hearing has provisionally been planned to take place on May 7.
