A letter of satisfaction written by a Donegal detective seemed to be "tailor-made" to provide a release from allegations relating to the activities of alleged IRA informer Ms Adrienne McGlinchey, the Morris tribunal has heard.
Supt Kevin Lennon, giving evidence for the fifth day, said the letter was written by Det Noel McMahon after Supt Lennon confronted Det McMahon about an allegation by Sgt Jim Leheny that Det McMahon had said he "could have Lennon suspended in 20 minutes".
Supt Lennon said Det McMahon wrote the letter to him, Supt Lennon, but that he told the detective it should be given to Sgt Leheny instead. At the detective's request, he, Supt Lennon, then wrote a note outlining the items the letter to Sgt Leheny should cover.
Supt Lennon said Sgt Leheny's allegations related to alleged bribes from businessmen, and an extra-marital affair, none of which was true.
Supt Lennon and Det McMahon are alleged to have arranged bogus arms finds in Donegal a decade ago. Both gardaí deny these allegations by their alleged informer, Ms McGlinchey, and Ms McGlinchey denies she was ever an informer.
Mr Justice Morris said it seemed the first letter - written by Det McMahon - didn't "fit the facts of the McGlinchey case like a glove, but the second one does.
"The second one covers the rank that you had at the time, the second one covers sensitive operations, the second one covers the fact that you and he were handling this jointly," he said.
"Everything seems to be tailor-made to fit the McGlinchey situation unravelling, whereas this one, it's good as far as it goes, but it doesn't fit it like a glove.
"Now I want to give you an opportunity to consider that position because it's something that I'm going to have to consider, it's a straw in the wind that I'm going to have to consider."
Supt Lennon said his note was never intended to refer to Ms McGlinchey. "All I can say to you, Sir, is it was never intended to do that," he said. "If I made a mistake, I accept the mistakes. I didn't do anything unlawful or otherwise in relation to Ms McGlinchey, that's all I can say to you. In terms of my mindset, it was never intended to be that way."
Supt Lennon was asked also about a diary entry by Supt Michael Duffy, on July 8th, 1994, that Supt Duffy met with Supt Lennon in Bundoran, and subsequently with RUC officers in Enniskillen about a planned attack on a British army checkpoint in Belleek.
Asked if he thought it was "unbelievable" that nothing was done to find the caravan to be used in the attack in the 10 days between this meeting and the find of an explosives cache at Rossnowlagh, Supt Lennon said: "It's a bit slack but that's the way it happened."
He said Det McMahon rang him around midnight on July 18th and told him it was an emergency. Ms McGlinchey had information about an arms store, but wanted a guarantee of confidentiality, as an informer had been shot in Enniskillen. Det McMahon said there was a bomb in Ballyshannon. With Det McMahon and Ms McGlinchey, he travelled to Rossnowlagh, where Ms McGlinchey showed them the stores of home-made explosives.
Supt Lennon said the reports he had previously sent about a planned attack on a British army checkpoint at Belleek were based on information he received from Det McMahon.
He said his information was that the IRA planned to use a stolen car and caravan to deliver a massive bomb to the checkpoint. The caravan would be unhitched using a hydraulic mechanism, and the IRA attackers would flee in the car, he said. The attack, which was planned before the first IRA ceasefire in 1994, never took place. Gardaí recovered a large store of home-made explosives in Rossnowlagh, which Supt Lennon said were to be used in the plan.
Supt Lennon said the team in the previous Carty inquiry had obtained false statements from Ms McGlinchey because he had criticised other officers in a report on the Garda investigation into the murder of Raphoe cattle dealer Mr Richie Barron.
"Have you any idea how ludicrous that sounds?" asked Mr Paul Murray, for Ms McGlinchey. "No, I don't," said Supt Lennon, "because there's a lot of ludicrous situations set out in her statement."