A retired detective garda told investigators from the Morris tribunal he was saddened at allegations of police corruption in Donegal, having faced personal danger in 27 years service with the force, much of it dedicated to combating terrorism.
"I am saddened at all of this. I am sad for the 27½ years I spent along the Irish Border helping to prevent terrorism," PJ Togher told tribunal investigator Brian Steel Garvie in 2003.
Mr Togher said that in one investigation he "lay in a ditch every night from dark until before dawn from December 27th, 1991, to March 9th, 1992, on my own watching 11 IRA men building a 4600lb bomb and thwarted their efforts days before the intended outrage.
"I am sad for the many years I faced danger and uncertainty along the Irish Border preventing terrorism."
The former detective denies he is the source of anonymous allegations passed on to two opposition TDs by Frank McBrearty snr in June 2000, alleging that the Carty inquiry into wrongdoing in Co Donegal was compromised because of high-level corruption in the Garda Síochána. The tribunal has heard that no evidence has been found "to support any of the allegations advanced" in the anonymous documents.
Cormac Ó Dúlacháin SC, representing John White, said there were 10 common stylistic features in the anonymous fax and a letter written by Mr Togher about the same time. "I was not the author of the fax," Mr Togher said.
The barrister also said the fax document showed a knowledge of "Garda speak", common phrases used within the force.
Barrister Niall Mooney said his client Jim Higgins MEP would say in the witness box that former Fine Gael leader John Bruton had not told him to "lay off" the McBrearty case. "Well he knows. I heard it from Frank McBrearty jnr," Mr Togher said.