Independent Review

Gerard Cunningham, who covered every day of evidence at the Morris tribunal, has written a devastating new book.

Chaos and Conspiracy is at its most powerful when it details the awful consequences of the wrongful arrests of twelve innocent people. Take for example, Roisin McConnell: accused of having an affair, called a slut and a whore. She spent eight weeks afterwards in a psychiatric unit.

Her sister Katrina Brolly had horrific post-mortem photos of the bloodied corpse of Richie Barron shoved in her face.

Another sister, Edel Quinn, suffered after she was released, punched in the stomach in a local pub and told she wouldn’t get out of Raphoe alive. She moved to Dublin.

Gerard Cunningham carefully catalogues their stories, previously lost amidst tens of thousands of pages of evidence.

Eventually the garda investigation collapsed, in part due to the work of diligent Donegal gardai who did their jobs properly. There was an internal garda inquiry and then the Morris Tribunal.

Chaos and Conspiracy is a gripping account which will be read most avidly in Raphoe. It should also be obligatory reading for every gardai and for those tempted to argue that the end justifies the means in combating crime.

I hope readers will forgive the blatant plug. This article is a synopsis of a review of ‘Chaos and Conspiracy‘, written by Michael Brennan. The full version appeared in the Irish Independent on 11 April and can be read here.