Ireland

Former garda says policing in Border areas was often chaotic

Morris Tribunal: Policing in Border districts was often chaotic during the early 1990s, a retired senior garda told the Morris…

Gerard Cunningham
Sat Dec 13 2003 - 00:00

Morris Tribunal: Policing in Border districts was often chaotic during the early 1990s, a retired senior garda told the Morris tribunal yesterday.

Mr Seán Ginty, a former chief superintendent who retired in 1998, is giving evidence regarding the handling of an alleged informer, Ms Adrienne McGlinchey, in the early 1990s.

"The idea that police work works in a nice, steady, systematic flow is of course false. It's chaos," Mr Ginty said. "We're dealing with human nature in the raw. We take our decisions on our feet.

"The best attribute we have is our experience and those who use their experience well taking decisions on the spot."

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The tribunal is looking into claims that Ms McGlinchey, with Supt Kevin Lennon and Det Garda Noel McMahon, prepared explosives for subsequent use in bogus Garda arms finds. Both men deny those claims, and Ms McGlinchey says she was never an informer.

Supt Lennon said there were 13 sergeants in Buncrana, and none of them had ever reported Ms McGlinchey's "theatricals" to him, yet he was being held responsible for her actions. He said he was not involved in receiving information from Det Garda McMahon about Ms McGlinchey before he was appointed to supervise Det Garda McMahon in 1993.

However, Mr Ginty said Supt Lennon had "a more than ordinary interest" in Ms McGlinchey and Det Garda McMahon before being appointed as supervisor.

Mr Ginty said the normal procedure in Donegal was that subversive materials would be "taken out of circulation and be content with that". There was never any suggestion from his superiors that there was anything wrong with this policy, and "a lack of adverse comment received was taken as a confirmation what we were doing was correct".

Mr Brian Murphy, for Det Garda McMahon, asked Mr Ginty if he would have altered his approach to Ms McGlinchey if he had been aware of her "attention-seeking activities".

"I would have probably allowed the situation to continue for some time and then perhaps reviewed it again," Mr Ginty said. "There wasn't a systematic approach to the assessment of informants."