MORRIS TRIBUNAL: Det Noel McMahon has been questioned at the Morris tribunal about photographs found in the locker of Supt Kevin Lennon, who supervised his handling of alleged informer Ms Adrienne McGlinchey.
Mr Paul Murray BL, for Adrienne McGlinchey, put it to the witness that Ms McGlinchey said he gave her disposable cameras to take photographs of locations in Northern Ireland.
"I totally disagree with that," Det McMahon replied. Det McMahon said he handed over the cameras to Supt Lennon to get them developed. There were no cameras until 1993 and 1994, after Supt Lennon became involved in supervising Ms McGlinchey, said Det McMahon.
Det McMahon said Ms McGlinchey took photographs of explosive mix stored in the attic of 24 Port Road, Letterkenny, above a Chinese restaurant.
The attic and roof of the restaurant had been repaired by IRA members, including a boyfriend of Ms McGlinchey identified as "Mr B", and they decided the attic would be a good place to store the material. Ms McGlinchey maintained that the detective had moved the bags to the attic in order to photograph them himself, Mr Murray said.
Det McMahon said by the time Ms McGlinchey identified the location, the stuff had been removed and could not be intercepted and seized by gardaí. He said he later checked the attic when he was able to visit the house.
Mr Murray said his instructions were that the Chinese restaurant didn't open until 2000, which made his evidence "complete and utter nonsense". Det McMahon told the tribunal he didn't know if the Chinese restaurant was there at the time.
Det McMahon was shown photographs of the inside of a car, showing a garda siren light. Mr Murray asked the detective if the foot beside the siren was Ms McGlinchey's. "I don't know, Sir, I can't tell from a foot," said the detective.
Det McMahon said he did not know why this photograph, and those of a holiday in Cyprus, and of the Donegal All-Ireland team homecoming in 1992, were found in Supt Lennon's locker.
The tribunal is looking into claims that Supt Kevin Lennon and Det Garda Noel McMahon prepared explosives, together with Ms McGlinchey, for use in bogus garda arms finds. Both gardaí deny these allegations, and Ms McGlinchey denies she was ever an informer or a member of the IRA.
Det McMahon also said he did not have an explanation of a photograph of Ms McGlinchey in his garda car, which he identified as her, which was found in the same batch of photographs in Supt Lennon's locker.
The Morris tribunal plans to question several of Ireland's top gardaí in the next week, including Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy, former Commissioner Pat Byrne and Assistant Commissioner Walter Rice, head of garda human resources.