Morris tribunal The Buncrana detective branch became "a lesser force than it had been" because of its dealings with Ms Adrienne McGlinchey, a retired detective garda told the Morris tribunal yesterday.
Former Det Garda Denis Doherty agreed that the experience with Ms McGlinchey had not been good for the detective unit. The tribunal has heard allegations that Ms McGlinchey was a Garda informant with subversive links but she has denied this.
She said Det Garda Noel McMahon had coerced her into planting bullets and fertiliser which were later "found" by gardaí.
Mr Doherty said he was called to Ms McGlinchey's flat in Buncrana in October 1993, after "unusual noises" were reported. He and Det Sgt Tom Shreenan were refused entry to the flat.
He later saw a white substance being thrown from a window on to a lean-to roof. He also heard the flushing of toilets "on a continual basis".
Det Sgt Shreenan sought a warrant to search the premises but the request was refused by Supt John P. O'Connor. Mr Doherty said he was frustrated with this decision as he felt something illegal may have been disposed of.
"It was my opinion that there was something that needed to be investigated and we weren't given the facilities to do that," he said.
The refusal of the warrant followed an instruction from Det Sgt Des Walsh that a "hands-off" approach be adopted with Ms McGlinchey and that she should be "left alone".
The tribunal also heard about a 1994 incident in Ballyliffen, outside Buncrana, when Mr Doherty and his colleague were called away from surveillance outside Ms McGlinchey's home. She had been evicted from the Buncrana flat after suspicious objects were found there and gardaí were called in.
Mr Doherty and his colleague decided to watch the house after they saw an unfamiliar man there. Half an hour after they started their observation, Ms McGlinchey and her friend, Ms Yvonne Devine, went out to a phone box and appeared to make a call.
Shortly afterwards, the two gardaí were contacted by Buncrana station and asked to go to a Border area where suspicious activity had been reported.
However, when they got there, they did not find anything suspicious. Mr Doherty said he found it "strange" that they were directed to that area, when uniformed gardaí who were closer to the area did not attend the scene.
"I felt that we were being directed away from the area that we were in."
Asked if all this activity with Ms McGlinchey had affected the detective unit in Buncrana, Mr Doherty said: "It probably left it a lesser force than it had been." Mr Peter Charleton SC, for the tribunal asked if this was a good thing. "No, I don't think so," Mr Doherty said.
He said detectives may have benefited from their dealings with Ms McGlinchey "but I couldn't see it". Mr Brian Murphy, for Det Garda McMahon, and Supt Kevin Lennon, representing himself, repeatedly pressed Mr Doherty for his reasons for believing Ms McGlinchey was not a worthwhile informant. Mr Doherty agreed that she may have been providing useful information but he had never seen benefits being accrued from the relationship with Ms McGlinchey.
He said some detectives did not believe in the usefulness of her information and there was "a strange air" about the whole issue in its later stages. Asked if there was a plan to translate such suspicions into proof, he said: "That would be the idea".
The tribunal continues this morning.
