Morris tribunal:A retired senior officer has told the Morris tribunal he was "bewildered" that private investigator Billy Flynn was able to obtain telephone records that showed a hoax blackmail call was made from the home of a serving garda.
Former garda John O'Dowd has since admitted to the tribunal that he knew the call was made from his home by a criminal to a member of the McBrearty family.
Denis Fitzpatrick, the former chief superintendent in charge of the Donegal division, said he was "amazed" that Mr Flynn was able to obtain the telephone records, when Garda attempts failed to obtain the same information.
"It has always amazed me how Mr Flynn was able to get this information and we could not get it," he said. "But I have to give him credit, he got his information and he got it fast."
The tribunal found computer problems during a changeover to a new billing system meant records from the time of the call in late 1996 could not be retrieved by the telephone company when the Garda requested them.
Mr Fitzpatrick said he had not instructed anyone to contact the Garda in Enfield, Co Meath, to take a statement from Mr Flynn, asking him for his source, but that it would be necessary to do so to investigate the allegations Mr Flynn was making.
Mr Fitzpatrick told Colm McCarville, representing Mr Flynn, that he still believed letters Mr Flynn wrote to members of the Garda in Co Donegal were "defamatory".
"I had no problem with him trying to obtain the truth," he said. "What I agree with you is, he was justified in trying to find the truth. What I do not agree with is that he can be writing offensive letters to people in the course of doing that, or defamatory letters. He cannot be doing that."
Later, Mr Fitzpatrick said he was not concerned about late-night drinking in Donegal, provided there were no public-order issues. He told tribunal barrister Paul McDermott that breaches of the licensing laws could be tolerated "once it was well run and it was reasonably compliant".
Questioned by Mairéad Carey, representing former sergeant John White, Mr Fitzpatrick agreed that Raphoe was difficult to police, and that excessive alcohol consumption was a common theme in many of the offences the Garda dealt with in the area.