A senior garda has told the Morris tribunal how he believed a "pseudo-informer" outwitted senior officers in Donegal.
The informer, Mr William Doherty, is a key figure in the events surrounding the investigation into the death of Raphoe cattle dealer Richie Barron in October 1996.
In March 1997, Mr Doherty's supervisor, Supt Kevin Lennon, organised a "fruitless" three-day search of a north Donegal farm for IRA weaponry based on information he and handler Garda John O'Dowd said came from the informer.
"William Doherty manipulated John O'Dowd," former Chief Supt Denis Fitzpatrick told the tribunal. "Then Kevin Lennon came on the scene." During the search, "Kevin Lennon was very confident there was something there."
But information from Doherty on forms recording subversive intelligence was wrong, he added.
"So you have an innocent guard being made a fool of by a pseudo-informer?" asked the chairman, Mr Justice Frederick Morris.
"That's what I think, yes," Mr Fitzpatrick said. "Doherty outwitted Kevin Lennon, I think. I believe William Doherty was to place something there so that it could be found later. I think Kevin Lennon was behind that plan. He was so confident that there was something there. That was his information to us."
Mr Doherty was "shut down" in July 1997 and Garda O'Dowd submitted no further forms recording subversive information, Mr Fitzpatrick said. However, he later learned that Sgt John White was still obtaining information on "ordinary crime" as late as 1999.
Mr Anthony Barr SC, for the tribunal, said a statement in a letter from Mr Fitzpatrick concerning the Carty inquiry in 1999 was incorrect in saying that Mr Doherty had been assessed by Det Insp John McGinley and found to be unreliable.
"He never assessed Doherty as an informant," Mr Barr said.
Mr Fitzpatrick said the assessment took place when Det Insp McGinley met Mr Noel McBride, a witness in the Barron investigation, in May 1997 while Mr Doherty was arrested in September 1997. "Maybe we're just picking at words here," said Mr Fitzpatrick. "I viewed what happened between May and September as an assessment."
In cross-examination, Mr Tom Creed SC for Garda O'Dowd outlined phone calls from Garda O'Dowd to Mr Fitzpatrick's, office, mobile and ex-directory home numbers. Mr Fitzpatrick said the mobile was Garda property and several senior officers used it. He could remember Garda O'Dowd calling him at home only once, on October 15th, 1996, concerning the death of Richie Barron.