An assault rifle sold to the late Evan Fitzgerald by undercover gardaí in a controversial operation had been seized from the IRA years beforehand.

The high-powered firearm had been stolen by an IRA cell in northern Europe from a Scandinavian military base several years ago. 

Last year, the MoS revealed in a protected disclosure from a Garda whistleblower that was redacted for legal reasons, that weapons supplied by gardaí in their sting operation came from the firearms stores at Garda headquarters. 

The weapons were disabled before undercover officers sold them to Mr Fitzgerald and his friends.

In a protected disclosure, a senior serving garda claimed one of the guns supplied to Mr Fitzgerald, a Heckler and Koch G3 assault rifle, was stolen by members of a Provisional IRA unit in Norway in the mid-1980s.

The whistleblower says in his protected disclosure: ‘The firearm was originally stolen from a Norwegian military reserve base by a Provisional IRA active service unit.’

The unit was based in Germany and was suspected of committing the theft of 100 Heckler and Koch rifles in the mid-1980s

The guns were subsequently recovered by the gardaí in an operation in the early 2000s and stored at Garda HQ in the Phoenix Park.

On March 2, 2024 the Heckler and Koch rifle was delivered to Evan Fitzgerald, along with a cache of weapons, by undercover gardaí.

Senior Garda sources, uneasy about the manner of Mr Fitzgerald’s arrest, this weekend stressed that no weapons were imported into the State by the young man, and that they were supplied from the controlled weapons store.

In his first statement, contained in the book of evidence in the case, Mr Fitzgerald takes full responsibility for the sourcing and purchasing of the weapons.

He also admits he deceived his two friends, Daniel Quinn Burke and Shane Kinsella, who were convicted for their role in the weapons offences.

In statements taken hours after his arrest, Mr Fitzgerald talks openly about his learning difficulties. He comes across as highly articulate, while displaying a disturbingly encyclopaedic knowledge of lethal weapons, and stressed he had no intention of hurting others or himself with the guns.

During the subsequent trial of his two friends, investigating gardaí confirmed they did not regard the young men as terrorists or serious criminals.

Evan Fitzgerald was just 20 years old on the day he was interviewed by gardaí at Naas Garda Station on March 2, just hours after his dramatic arrest by the Emergency Response Unit.

Opening the interview, a Garda asks the young man: ‘Evan, do you understand the reason for your arrest here today?’

Mr Fitzgerald answers: ‘Yeah, I do. It’s self-explanatory.’

Asked in his own words, why he was arrested, he replies: ‘I went on to a form of the dark web and tried to purchase a G3 rifle with 20 rounds of ammunition.’

A G3 rifle is a Heckler and Koch battle rifle that was used by NATO forces. It was originally developed by the Germans at the end of World War II.

Immediately, exchanges display a vulnerable young man, or what Senator Michael McDowell described this weekend as, a ‘naive, innocent young man’.

Asked about any ‘medical conditions’ he had, Mr Fitzgerald said he suffers from ‘dyslexia, difficult to read things and spell them. Dyspraxia. I’m a bit clumsy but it effects my writing mostly. Dyscalculia, I’m terrible with numbers. That’s it, I don’t have autism or ADHD or anything like that.’

When the interviewer asks him if he understands ‘right from wrong’, the then 20-year-old replies: ‘Yeah.’

Asked what he would think if he ‘picked up a newspaper tomorrow and read “man buys guns from man”, he answers: ‘I think it would be news. It would depend on the circumstances.’

Displaying a sort of childlike innocence, albeit with a disturbing interest in the mechanics and history of firearms, he tells the garda: ‘I got the ammo, for it [assault rifle] so that I could basically shoot a tree. I couldn’t go into a random field and fire randomly. I would basically just shoot it maybe twice and put it away forever.

‘The reason I chose to have the G3 rifle was because it’s historic. It’s only used in militaries to a very small extent… I wanted it for its historical purpose.’

Naas-based solicitor Tim Kennelly was present at the Garda Station for the March 2 interview. He also represents one of the other young men, Shane Kinsella, who was convicted of firearms offences this week.

Speaking to the MoS this weekend, Mr Kennelly said: ‘In my opinion, Evan was a virtuous young man who had many qualities that include courtesy, integrity and most importantly, loyalty. A trait which was abundantly clear up to his final days.’

The Garda Ombudsman, Fiosrú, this weekend confirmed the controversial undercover Garda operation ‘remains open and under investigation’.

A spokeswoman told the MoS: ‘Fiosrú, Office of the Police Ombudsman, received a referral from An Garda Síochána on Monday 2 June 2025, under Section 203(1) of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024 .

‘The referral was made by a Garda Superintendent in relation to the death of a man at the Fairgreen Shopping Centre, Carlow, which had occurred the previous evening. Upon receipt of the referral, Fiosrú appointed a senior designated officer to conduct an investigation under section 208(1)(b) of the PSCS Act 2024.

‘This matter remains open and under investigation by Fiosrú.’