A Donegal man wrongly arrested three times by gardaí has said that a "blue wall" was erected by officers who interrogated him when he was detained on charges of murder and intimidating witnesses.
Mark McConnell was arrested three times in the two years following the death of hit and run victim Richie Barron.
"After 10 years of despair, we thought that there was a bit of light at the end of the tunnel when Garda Dooley admitted the wrongdoing to my wife, Roisin," Mr McConnell said in a closing submission.
"It lifted a huge weight off my wife's shoulders that had been on them for the best part of 10 years, and only Garda Dooley came forward she would have been put through an ordeal in this tribunal while giving evidence where she would no doubt have been accused of lying and making up false allegations by certain legal teams present here, as I have been accused.
"In my module there had been a blue wall erected by all gardaí who were involved in interrogating me, which my wife and I have found extremely distressing."
Mr McConnell said it was "sinister" that four gardaí said they were present during a phone consultation with his solicitor, James O'Donnell, now a barrister, and had not heard him make any complaints.
"How could these four gardaí be telling the truth about this?" he said. "Within 20 minutes of me making the complaint over the phone to the solicitor, he arrives at the station.
"What these four gardaí are suggesting or implying is that James O'Donnell, out of the blue and with no instructions from me, made a false complaint on my behalf, which is an unbelievable and malicious suggestion not only against me but also a practising barrister."
In separate submissions, representatives of the gardaí who arrested and interrogated Mr McConnell denied any wrongdoing.
Earlier, retired chief superintendent Denis Fitzpatrick told the inquiry he believed at the time he extended Mr McConnell's detention in 1998 that a Sligo resident had his life threatened with a silver bullet. As a result of the arrest, the third in two years, Mr McConnell was held for 48 hours under the Offences Against the State Act.
Mr Fitzpatrick said it did not strike him as unlikely that a man would be threatened over a minor District Court prosecution for a breach of the licensing laws.
"Anything could happen in a Border area. Unpredictability happens all the time."
Bernard Conlon had alleged that two men visited his home in Sligo and showed him a silver bullet, and warned him against giving evidence against the McBrearty family in a Donegal District Court.
Mr Conlon has since admitted that the allegation he made was false.
The tribunal also heard that Frank McBrearty snr, who walked out last week, would return later this week to be cross-examined. The tribunal will resume on Thursday.