 Although the Provisional IRA claimed responsibility for carrying out the attack, nobody has ever been charged with the killings.Breen and Buchanan were the highest-ranking RUC officers to be killed during the Troubles.In a House of Commons parliamentary debate held the day after the killings, unionist politicians, many of whom had been personally acquainted with Breen and Buchanan, criticised the decision to send the unarmed officers to a meeting in Dundalk, a town renowned for its close IRA affiliations.