The new material that led to court's decision

The newly discovered material which formed the basis of the court's decision consisted of:

1) Allegations by Ms Sheenagh McMahon, especially that Det McMahon told her he perjured himself during Mr Shortt's trial;

2) The evidence of Ms Adrienne McGlinchey that she was given money to buy drugs and asked by Det McMahon to plant the drugs in the Point Inn. She told the court she agreed to plant drugs but failed to do so and that she was later told by Det McMahon that others had planted them. The Carty inquiry also recorded Ms McGlinchey as alleging she was asked to plant drugs, with the vital difference that the Carty team stated she told them she had planted the drugs. The memo with that allegation was not signed by her.

3) A remark by Det McMahon, during interviews with the Carty team, that Ms McGlinchey was "never in the Point Inn, she was supposed to go there but she never went".

4) Evidence by Det McMahon to the court in which he conceded for the first time Ms McGlinchey was aware of the Point Inn operation before the raid.

5) Material taken from Det McMahon's home during a raid by the Carty team in September 1999. This included a number of loose sheets of paper in Det McMahon's handwriting dealing with events at the Point Inn from June to September 1992, a draft of Det McMahon's second statement with annotations by Supt Lennon and an Advice on Proofs document outlining concerns about deficiencies in the case against Mr Shortt.

6) The "letter of satisfaction", a document in two forms. The first was a typewritten letter by Det McMahon while the second was a handwritten draft by Supt Lennon. In both forms, which appeared to date from 1996, the nature of the contents was a "strong endorsement" of Supt Lennon by Det McMahon.

7) A list in Det McMahon's handwriting which appeared to be a list of concerns which may have prompted the writing of the "letter of satisfaction". The fifth item said: "Point Inn etc etc".

8) The discovery of two premarked £10 sterling notes in the possession of an alleged drug dealer. The notes were found in the property of the alleged dealer after this was searched, at Det McMahon's request, on the afternoon of August 3rd, 1992, hours after an early-morning Garda raid on the Point Inn. But when the dealer was searched on the night of the raid, no such notes were then found.

9) An allegation by Sheenagh McMahon that she saw Det McMahon, Supt Lennon and two other gardaí in a room of her home preparing a statement for Mr Shortt's trial. She alleged Supt Lennon was reading from a notebook of her husband's and was giving instructions on what to include and exclude.

10) A four-page document in Det McMahon's handwriting with the words: "Point Inn - perjury - set up - advice on proofs - Kevin Lennon had my notebook".

11) Notes in Det McMahon's handwriting. The words "Shortt- merit award - tout" were all on the same line and appeared to be linked, the court said.