The Garda Síochána told the Government in August 2000 that gardaí in Donegal had exploited and manipulated witnesses, used false information and testimony to cast suspicion, and that there was reason to believe that some had abused their powers, writes Mark Hennessy, Political Correspondent
Marked "Secret", the information is contained in a summary of Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty's investigation into allegations of "criminal and unethical behaviour" by Donegal gardaí between 1991 and 1998.
Meanwhile, the Donegal branch of the Garda Representative Association has demanded that the GRA go to court to block the transfer to Dublin of five gardaí criticised by the Morris tribunal, The Irish Times has learnt, though their GRA leaders are opposed.
The summary, sent to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in August 2000, was written by then deputy commissioner Noel Conroy, who now serves as Garda Commissioner.
The evidence unearthed by Mr Carty "raises the most serious concerns about the conduct of some gardaí in the course of the Barron investigation", Mr Conroy told then minister for justice John O'Donoghue.
The disclosure will increase the pressure on Minister for Justice Michael McDowell and Mr O'Donoghue to justify the delay in setting up the Morris tribunal until two years later, in May 2002.
In the Dáil last week, Mr McDowell said it did not finally become clear to the government that a tribunal had to be set up until January 2002, following a review of the full text of the Carty report by barrister Shane Murphy SC.
However, the 37-page summary sent by Mr Conroy 18 months earlier acknowledged that Mr Carty had found serious evidence that significant numbers of gardaí had behaved improperly.
Dealing with the investigation into Richie Barron's death in Raphoe in 1996, Commissioner Conroy said the Carty report had highlighted the inadequate investigation into his death and detailed "incidents where false information and testimony" were tendered to cast suspicion on the McBrearty family and others.
Summarising the report, Mr Conroy said it was "an extraordinary coincidence" that Bernard Conlon had been able falsely to allege that Mark McConnell had threatened him "without some assistance from somebody with a knowledge of the Barron investigation".
The conduct of two gardaí, Sgt John White and Garda John O'Dowd, "gave grave cause for concern", wrote Mr Conroy, while some of the prosecutions taken by them "were devoid of the discretion and balance that might be reasonably expected by any citizen of this State", he told Mr O'Donoghue.
"On the balance of probabilities and accumulated circumstances there is reason to believe that both members engaged in an abuse of process," Mr Conroy wrote.
Green Party TD Ciarán Cuffe last night said the Conroy summary proved the government had had enough information to set up a public inquiry in 2000, but that it had deliberately chosen not to do so.
However, Mr Conroy's report did make it clear that the Carty inquiry team had sent a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions recommending criminal proceedings against Supt Kevin Lennon and Det Noel McMahon, Sgt John White, Garda John O'Dowd and a number of members of the public, including William Doherty.
Mr McDowell advised Mr O'Donoghue, following the latter's request for assistance in May 2001 - over nine months after Mr Conroy's summary was sent to him - that a tribunal would "seriously" prejudice and compromise subsequent trials.
Referring to the discovery of alleged IRA arms dumps, Commissioner Conroy made clear that the Carty report had concluded that Supt Lennon and Det McMahon had shown "apparent untruthfulness" and an "apparent lack of ethical standards".