Morris tribunal:A retired senior officer has denied that he urged gardaí to issue summonses against the McBrearty family or told a Raphoe-based garda to "give those bucks plenty of paper" during what the family claim was a campaign to harass them.
"That didn't happen," former chief superintendent Denis Fitzpatrick told the Morris tribunal. "I don't think it's my phrase. I don't know where it came from. I've heard it before, I don't know where it came from."
Frank McBrearty Snr claims gardaí launched a campaign to harass his family and drive his nightclub out of business in the year following the hit-and-run death of local cattle dealer Richie Barron, which was wrongly treated as a murder inquiry.
Solicitor Conor Connelly said that a similar phrase, that the family "would be hit with paper" was attributed to Mr Fitzpatrick in a memo of a meeting with Mr McBrearty's lawyers recorded by their solicitor Ken Smyth.
Mr Connelly said his client, former garda John O'Dowd, could not have known what was in the memo when he made his statement to the tribunal, and it was "either an extraordinary coincidence or the truth of the matter."
But Mr Fitzpatrick said the phrase was not his, and he did not remember saying it.
He said there was a policy of strict enforcement of liquor licensing laws, but it was a general policy and did not target any specific business or individual.
Over 100 summonses were served against Frank McBrearty Snr, his business, his extended family and employees in 1997 and early 1998.
The DPP withdrew all the charges in June 2000.
"I had never seen cases withdrawn, from my memory before," former chief superintendent Denis Fitzpatrick said, "How can anybody stand up and defend what guards have done in any forum and say they were fair when you realise what went on behind the scenes?" he said.
"It just wouldn't stand up, it wasn't fair. When all that came out, there was only one way to go."
Tribunal barrister Paul McDermott asked the witness if he thought the McBrearty family were unfairly treated. "If it was me, definitely I would have felt aggrieved," Mr Fitzpatrick said.
"Maybe Mr McBrearty should have done different things on his side as well. Why did he antagonise the guards?"