Two senior Garda officers in the Letterkenny district of Co Donegal had a "heated" discussion following the discovery of a notebook belonging to a garda in the bedroom of a Garda informer, the tribunal heard yesterday. Gerard Cunningham has this report.
Det Sgt Sylvie Henry said the notebook, which informer Mr William Doherty said last June he stole from Garda John O'Dowd, contained writing which Insp John McGinley believed was in the hand of Supt Kevin Lennon, the district officer.
The sergeant said Supt Lennon "was totally adamant that it wasn't in it, it couldn't be in it".
"So Insp McGinley said words to the effect of: 'There was a notebook and your writing is in it'?" Mr Justice Morris asked.
"Yes, words to that effect," said Sgt Henry.
"Was this discussion a businesslike, good-natured discussion, or was it an aggressive, confrontational discussion?"
"It was heated anyway, let's put it that way."
The sergeant said during the discussion there were also references to a three-day farm search "which shouldn't have happened".
"Was this not a pretty shocking thing, to see two officers stuck in each other like this?" asked the judge.
"Well, it was yes, I hadn't seen it before."
Det Sgt Henry said that on September 20th, 1997, Mr Doherty was arrested after being named by Mr Noel McBride as the person responsible for statements Mr McBride made incriminating Mr Frank McBrearty jnr and Mr Mark McConnell in the death of Mr Richie Barron. Mr McBride had days earlier withdrawn all his allegations.
The sergeant said it was his idea to take Mr Doherty to Milford station, and this was so that his handler, Garda O'Dowd, would not be there.
However, tribunal barrister Mr Anthony Barr SC said Insp McGinley had "a wider view", and also wanted Mr Doherty kept away from Supt Lennon and Sgt John White.
In a report on the arrest, Insp McGinley said: "I felt that Milford was a turning point in everything. It changed relationships, it changed everything."
"Were there now two camps?" asked Mr Barr.
"I suppose you could say there were, yes," said the sergeant.
Later the chairman asked why Mr Doherty would encourage someone to make statements detrimental to the McBrearty family.
"I don't know, that remains a mystery," said Sgt Henry. He added that it might be because the Doherty and Barron families were quite friendly.
Mr Frank McBrearty intervened to say: " My family and the Doherty family were very thick as well. Pat Doherty was a friend of my father, and William Doherty went to school with us."
Mr McConnell also said there was no animosity between his family and Mr Doherty.
"What would Doherty need McBride for at all?" the chairman asked the witness. "Why couldn't he go direct and spin these yarns?"
"I suppose then he would have to be a witness," said Sgt Henry.