Fred Holroyd

Fred Holroyd arrived in Northern Ireland in January 1974 as a Military Intelligence Officer. He was removed from his position at the end of May 1975, ostensibly on medical grounds. He resigned from the Army in September 1976. Since that time Captain Holroyd has persistently accused the British Army of having engaged in very serious unlawful acts including murder and kidnapping; of encouraging and assisting loyalist paramilitaries in the commission of such acts; of recruiting agents from the ranks of the security forces of this State; and of acts of gross incompetence which resulted in loss of life.

He has claimed to have received reliable information during his period in Northern Ireland concerning the perpetrators of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. He has also made other allegations that are important to the Inquiry because they have been frequently used to support the theory that the bombings were part of a pattern of collusion between elements of the security forces in Northern Ireland and loyalist paramilitaries.

His allegations have been the subject of a number of RUC and Garda reports. The RUC have discounted his allegations while the Gardaí regard him as a liar and not worth further investigation. The Inquiry considers this portrayal to be unfair. Given that Holroyd's evidence accuses both the Northern Ireland security forces and the Gardaí of improper behaviour, one must also consider the possibility that those who investigated his allegations would have had, even subconsiously, a desire to find them false. Some of the RUC officers interviewed by the Inquiry, in their apparent eagerness to deny Holroyd any credibility whatsoever, themselves made inaccurate and misleading statements which have unfortunately tarnished their own credibility.

A number of Holroyd’s allegations are not completely true, but they relate to events that did happen. Insofar as they raise serious questions concerning the behaviour of the security forces, North and South during the 1970s, they are of relevance to the work of this Inquiry, and have contributed to the Inquiry’s view on the possibility of collusion between elements of the security forces in Northern Ireland and loyalist paramilitaries.