It was part of Garda procedures that a preliminary investigation into shortcomings in a Garda operation could take up to four months, according to a chief superintendent.
Chief Supt John Fitzgerald was the senior officer in Letterkenny at the time of the death of Mr Richard Barron. He was giving evidence to the tribunal yesterday about the shortcomings in the initial investigation into Mr Barron's death, then believed to have been caused by a road accident, on the night of October 13th, 1996.
There was a delay of 35 minutes in gardaí getting to the scene, the scene was not preserved, and he was not told about the accident until the following morning. He said he should have been told as soon as the accident was reported.
"It would appear all the rules were not complied with," he said.
"Did you speak with the member concerned?" asked Mr Paul McDermott SC, for the tribunal.
"No. I wanted that issue to be dealt with formally," said the superintendent.
"It is not our culture to come along and castigate somebody. Our culture is to put it on paper and follow it through," he said.
He said he drew up a list of 11 questions concerning the investigation and asked Insp Jim Gallagher to follow them up as a matter of urgency. When he left his position in Letterkenny the following February he had still not received answers to his questions, Supt Fitzgerald said.
"Was this machinery an effective response to the deficiencies?" asked Mr McDermott.
"To my mind, yes. People have to get a chance to give their side of the story," said Supt Fitzgerald.
"Perhaps it would have been more effective to go to the man concerned and ask 'Why was I not phoned?'"
"I did not go directly to that person and if that was not correct it was not correct," replied the superintendent.
He also said he did not ask for a direct explanation as to why the investigating gardaí had allegedly gone to Convoy rather than Raphoe on the night of Mr Barron's death.
He said he believed they had been confused by the existence of two townlands of the same name.
"Do you think that asking Insp Gallagher to carry out an investigation was the best way to deal with it?"
"That's the way the procedures are," said Supt Fitzgerald.