Morris Tribunal: A senior garda was worried that a discovery of explosives in Donegal in 1999 may have been "orchestrated" to influence the Carty internal inquiry into allegations of corruption in the force at the time.
He agreed that Supt Lennon was investigated more thoroughly than the officer who made the find.
Chief Supt Fitzpatrick was questioned about a find of 3½ lbs of Semtex and AK47 bullets at Lifford, Co Donegal, on April, 19th, 1999.
The find was uncovered as a result of information supplied to Chief Supt (then Supt) John McLoughlin in Dublin, who travelled to Donegal and uncovered the materials.
"The site of the find did not resemble any previous hide used by subversives to store explosives or ammunition," Chief Supt Fitzpatrick wrote in a report to the Assistant Commissioner Northern Region at the time. It appeared to be of recent origin, only a day or two old.
He believed the timing and location of the find was suspicious, but it was not investigated.
Chief Supt Fitzgerald was worried that "it may have been orchestrated to impact on other internal investigations within the division", wrote Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty in a memo about the find on April 29th. At the time, Assistant Commissioner Carty was heading an internal inquiry into Garda corruption.
Supt Lennon asked if the incident was "thoroughly and properly investigated" as a result of the Chief Superintendent's concerns. "The simple answer is no," replied Chief Supt Fitzpatrick.
Asked if he thought the find was orchestrated, he said that at the time he thought it was strange. "Firstly it was strange that someone would contact Supt McLoughlin in Dublin and that he would come down and search for it himself, and take it out and at a later stage come to a Garda station with it.
"I thought it was unusual and strange, 3½ lb of Semtex is a rare find in Donegal in my experience," he said.
"It didn't seem the normal place to me where someone would store 3½ lb of Semtex." The site was in a ditch, and didn't seem to be very deep, and looked to be only a day old or so, he said.
"Why didn't you through the Carty inquiry launch an investigation into that matter?" asked Supt Lennon.
"I asked for a report on it. I requested a report through Assistant Commissioner Carty. I never received a report," said Chief Supt Fitzpatrick.
He said he thought it unusual that Supt McLoughlin travelled from Donegal himself, as normal procedure would be for him to contact the gardaí in Letterkenny, who would conduct a search, he said.
Supt Lennon contrasted the investigation of allegations against himself with the lack of investigation of the find by Supt McLoughlin.
"I was singled out for different treatment," Supt Lennon said.