Morris Tribunal: Former Garda superintendent Kevin Lennon has responded to a statement by a garda who said he was told about an extortion phone call made from Raphoe Garda John O'Dowd's home "within a few days" of it being made in November 1996.
"I am saying, sir, that not until June of 1997 did I get to know about the phone call," Mr Lennon told the Morris tribunal. "When I did get to know about it, I wrote about it to the various authorities and to the sergeant in Raphoe.
"In July 1997 Garda O'Dowd came in with a document from [ private investigator] Mr William Flynn, saying he didn't make the call. I told him to 'go to your investigators and tell them that', and I asked him specifically who had access to his house, and who had a key to his house, and he said nobody. Mr Lennon said he told the garda to get a record of his phone calls and bring it in to investigators, which he did. "For eight years long, sir, Garda O'Dowd has lied and lied to me about this affair. It's as simple as that sir," Mr Lennon said.
Supt John J. Fitzgerald said he thought at the time that the extortion phone calls to Michael and Charlotte Peoples were a "devious crank". He said Mr Lennon did not tell him about the calls.
Also at the tribunal, chairman Mr Justice Morris asked that the Garda Commissioner write to Mr Frank McBrearty jnr confirming his name is no longer on the Garda PULSE system as a murder suspect in the death of Raphoe cattle- dealer Mr Richie Barron.
Mr McBrearty asked Mr Justice Morris to withdraw his name from the PULSE system, and that of his cousin, Mr Mark McConnell, as murder suspects.
He said he had brothers in the US and didn't want to be stopped from visiting them because of reports on the Garda system.
Mr Michael Durack SC, for the Commissioner, said Mr McBrearty's name had been withdrawn from the system since 1999.
"It would be my request to the Commissioner that he would write a letter confirming that this has been done in every case where it has been done," the chairman said.
Earlier, Mr Brian Murphy, representing Garda O'Dowd, said Supt Fitzgerald was incorrect in saying he asked Garda O'Dowd the identity of a witness known as Mr X before a statement from this witness was received.
Mr Murphy said the term "Mr X" did not appear in conference notes of the murder investigation until after his statement was received.
"You are telling bare- faced lies," Mr Murphy said to Supt Fitzgerald. "You are trying to shift the blame away from yourself."
"I will not shirk my responsibility and I will not move blame on anyone unworthy," Supt Fitzgerald said.