Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy has defended the force's handling of the investigation into the 1996 death of Donegal man Richie Barron claiming it had been conducted in an "efficient and thorough manner".
Members of the McBrearty family were questioned about the death and their allegations of Garda harassment and concerns about the investigation later lead to the setting up of the Morris tribunal. A number of gardaí have been dismissed as a result.
However, in a 100-page submission to the tribunal, Commissioner Conroy said while mistakes arose, the investigation was conducted in an efficient manner and that all lines of inquiry were investigated.
"Mistakes occurred and these mistakes have coloured the entire investigation and raised at most a suspicion of wrongdoing and at least a gloss of ineptitude and carelessness over the investigation," the submission states. "It is submitted that such views are not justified when taken in the whole.
"What readily is lost sight of, is that in the course of the investigation mistakes were identified and insofar as it was possible, they were corrected."
It adds: "It is submitted that all lines of inquiry that came to the team's attention were thoroughly investigated."
Details of the submission were published in a Sunday newspaper yesterday. Senior Garda sources last night said while the report was accurate many of the points in the submission had not been included in it.
The submission stopped short of a full defence of the investigation. It notes that Garda John O'Dowd had failed to disclose facts to other investigators.
