In what is to be the final module of the Morris tribunal, a former senior member of the Garda Complaints Board said it was "a cause of deep concern" that a series of related complaints alleging mistreatment during the arrest of several members of the extended McBrearty family were not brought to the attention of the body for 10 months after they were made.
Brian O'Brien retired in 2001 as deputy chief executive of the board, which was established by the Garda Síochána (Complaints) Act, 1986.
The statutory watchdog was replaced on May 9th, 2007, by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, although it continues to investigate complaints it received before that date.
The tribunal spent the last six months examining allegations of Garda harassment made by Frank McBrearty snr and others in Donegal.
In its final module, it will now look at the conduct of the Garda Complaints Board in investigating complaints from the families, and expects to complete its work before the end of the year.
Mr O'Brien said that in October 1997, he was told by Supt Kevin Lennon of eight complaints by the family, six of which related to their arrest and detention in December 1996, and two relating to enforcement of the licensing laws in relation to Mr McBrearty's licensed premises.
"Seven of those letters were dated in December 1996, the last one, the eighth one, was undated," he said. "Word of their coming up was a cause of deep concern in the office because, particularly when we saw the terminology of the letters, they were serious complaints."
Mr O'Brien said he spoke to the chief executive of the board, and "we said that this is unfortunate, these should have been dealt with long ago, we will have to deal with them expeditiously, and we may have to take special measures in relation to them".
In a conversation at the time, Supt Lennon told Mr O'Brien that he learned of the letters from Supt Tom Gallagher in Ballymote, who was told about them by Bill Flynn, a private detective hired by the McBrearty family to clear their name. The original letters could not be located, the tribunal heard.
Mr O'Brien said that an earlier batch of nine complaints from the extended McBrearty family did not stand out in his mind when they were first received.
"I have been retired for six years. These complaints were lodged nearly 10 years ago," he said. "Were it not for this tribunal, I don't think I would remember them. They were fairly normal type of complaints.
"What makes the McBrearty group of complaints memorable is that there were a fairly big number of them," he said. "Was there anything special about them? There wasn't."
"I wasn't particularly conscious of them."