The Morris tribunal has said that gardaí "deliberately withheld" information and made efforts to shelter behind what the chairman described as "Garda speak" in order to avoid giving any information.
"By the term 'Garda speak' is meant the practice which the judiciary have witnessed in the courts for many years whereby gardaí in the witness box will parry and fence with counsel in a well-recognised choreography to avoid answering counsel's question," the chairman wrote.
"Given that this reluctance to confront the truth was recognised by the tribunal it was in many cases available to the tribunal to draw appropriate conclusions from the factual background to this case.
"The habit of lying was not by any means confined to the gardaí. Civilian witnesses resorted to the practice to advance the interests they represented. Having identified the stark reality that a piece of evidence was a lie it was possible for the tribunal to move forward from that point," he wrote.
Mr Justice Morris said he could best describe the response to its opening statement, which was circulated to each party involved, as "unsatisfactory".
By far the biggest response was from members of the public requesting that the tribunal look into complaints of what they perceived to be improper Garda conduct, which fell outside the tribunal's terms of reference, Mr Justice Morris said.
With the exception of a few replies, "virtually no realistic response" was received from members of the Garda in the Donegal division, past or present.
The tribunal chairman then sent letters to all past and present serving members of the Garda in the Donegal division suggesting that they co-operate with the tribunal by furnishing a statement that they considered to be of assistance to the tribunal's work.
"Of the several hundred letters sent, the tribunal received very few replies. In practically no case was any relevant information furnished. The bulk of the replies were negative," Mr Justice Morris wrote.
A further letter was sent to the same individuals in early 2003. Again, with the exception of some officers, the response was negative.
"The tribunal regrets that it must report that their disinclination to volunteer information by members of the Gardaí has been carried through into the tribunal's hearings," Mr Justice Morris said.
"A phrase was used by Garda Martin Leonard which has struck a chord with the tribunal. He said, in effect: 'you don't want to hang your own'.
"It was clear that this ethic was active among many witnesses in order to prevent the tribunal making headway. This caused a terrible waste of valuable and expensive time.
"It has been, and remains, the belief of the tribunal that many gardaí who appeared before it have comprehensive information which would be of assistance to the tribunal which they have declined to give," Mr Justice Morris said.
"They frequently sheltered behind what I felt compelled to call 'the trigger syndrome'. Provided counsel for the tribunal is inspired to ask precisely the question that will ignite the item of information, then that piece of information will be revealed and disclosed.
"If counsel is not so inspired, that information will remain undisclosed. Asking such people for assistance in terms of a general narrative on a particular issue evokes no useful response."