Even after 43 years, the prosecution and conviction of Brian McNally, Osgur Breatnach and Nicky Kelly for the crime of robbing a train at Sallins in 1976 continues to cast a dark cloud over the Irish justice system and especially over Irish policing.

The State has called the Sallins case a ‘miscarriage of justice’ which suggests rights were violated through some mishap. However, the circumstances of the case suggest a purposeful campaign to frame men who were known to be innocent for a serious offence. It also involved serious ill-treatment, potentially amounting to torture, of those men while in custody by a covert group of gardaí who were organised to operate outside of the law.

Mr Herrick continued:

As we advance with a comprehensive process of Garda reform, we must address outstanding abuses from the past if public confidence in policing is to be restored.  Cases like Sallins, and Kerry Babies, will continue to haunt our society and hold back reform of our justice system until they are properly investigated and the truth is uncovered.

From a human rights perspective, it is notable that this case arose around the same time that Ireland was bringing a case to the European Court of Human Rights concerning the use of abusive interrogation techniques in Northern Ireland.