Information: Former minister for justice Mr John O'Donoghue told the Morris tribunal last year that it was only in April 1999 that he gained "substantive knowledge" of affairs in the Donegal division of the Garda.
Mr O'Donoghue told the tribunal last December that he was occasionally "annoyed" with the extent of the information provided to him by the then Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne.
While Mr O'Donoghue was not informed about particular things "from time to time", he said it was for the Commissioner to assess what matters would be communicated to the Department. Only "very serious" matters fell into this category, he said.
While he did not believe there was anything "out of control" at the highest level in the Garda, he was extremely annoyed to learn of the allegations about activities in Donegal.
While the hoax explosive finds dated to the early 1990s, Mr O'Donoghue acquired detailed knowledge of the allegations only in April 1999 when one of his assistant secretaries briefed him for a parliamentary question the following month. He was still minister for justice when the Government moved in February 2002 to set up the tribunal. He had previously resisted this, telling the Dáil in November 2001 that such a process would be in conflict with the law.
It was at that time that Mr O'Donoghue appointed a barrister, Mr Shane Murphy SC, to report into allegations of Garda corruption in Donegal. Mr Murphy's report found there were serious questions to be answered, prompting the Government to establish the tribunal.
In his evidence last December, Mr O'Donoghue said he had raised with Mr Byrne the issue of public confidence in the force being lost as a result of the allegations.
While not recalling a specific meeting on the issue, he said he would have discussed the internal inquiry by Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty into the affair and his desire to have the report finished quickly.
When the report went to the Director of Public Prosecutions in May 2000, he said he was waiting for prosecutions to come and assumed they would. A parliamentary question in November 2001 was a catalyst for the engagement of Mr Murphy, he said.
The previous July, Mr Byrne had transferred five gardaí out of the Donegal division to boost confidence in the force. Two of those were heavily criticised yesterday in the first interim report of the tribunal. They were Supt Kevin Lennon, who helped orchestrate the planting of ammunition and hoax explosives; and Chief Supt Denis Fitzpatrick.
Among other findings, the report said Mr Fitzpatrick was "gravely at fault" and "grossly negligent" for not analysing the Strabane incident involving Supt Lennon, Det Noel McMahon and the "informant" Adrienne McGlinchey. Mr Byrne said at the time that the five transfers, which included Mr Lennon and Mr Fitzpatrick, "should not be seen as an indication of any wrongdoing".
