Morris tribunal:Former TD Tom Gildea yesterday named journalist Frank Connolly as his confidential source of information that an explosive device had been assembled at the rear of a Co Donegal Garda station.
Mr Gildea, an Independent TD from 1997 to 2002, said he had raised the issues with then minister for Justice John O'Donoghue.
The tribunal is looking into allegations that gardaí assembled the device, found on November 19th, 1996, and placed it on a television mast in Ardara for the purpose of arresting three local people, Hugh Diver, the late Anthony Diver and Bernard Shovlin.
Mr Gildea had become involved in peaceful protests against the mast in 1995. He stopped after a High Court injunction prevented named people from protesting. The situation escalated around November 7th, 1996, with an arson attack on a container causing £50,000 worth of damage.
Peter Charleton, SC for the tribunal, said yesterday the view came about in Co Donegal that the device was assembled in the rear yard of a Garda station, be it Ardara, Glenties, Carrick, nobody knew where. "That's correct, yes. There was a multiplicity of rumours," Mr Gildea said.
Mr Charleton said: "The belief came about that you had a secret source, in other words, that somebody had confidentially communicated with you to the effect that 'I, as the secret source, know where the Garda station was that this was done, and I personally witnessed the making of the device and the placing of it on the mast'."
Mr Gildea replied: "I was told by a confidential source that they had information that, as you said, the device was assembled in the rear of the Garda station in Glenties. I would have to say in the interest of accuracy that I didn't see it, I couldn't have done, but that information was given to me."
Mr Charleton asked if he minded telling them who his source was. "No, I don't mind at all, it was Mr Frank Connolly, a correspondent with a Sunday newspaper, told me that," he said.
Mr Gildea said he had revealed his source for the first time to the tribunal team. Referring to a letter he sent to the then minister, he said as there were rumours of an inquiry being set up about issues in another part of the county, he owed it to the electorate to have the situation in Ardara included.
"I had spoken to the minister on a few occasions before that and I was meeting him, so I hurriedly wrote that letter and handed it to him," he said.
In the letter he said he believed there was a need to have the role of certain gardaí fully and independently investigated in connection with the arson attack, explosive device, and the making of an anonymous telephone call to Anthony Diver. In the letter he alleged the late Mr Diver recognised the voice as that of Det Sgt John White.
John Whelan SC, for Sgt White, put it to Mr Gildea that as he had not asked the detective about the allegation before naming him, he had disgraced his responsibility as a public representative.
Mr Gildea said he refuted that and had absolute confidence in what Mr Diver told him.