Morris Tribunal: A senior civil servant said the Department of Justice was slow to realise the seriousness of events unfolding in Donegal as outlined in correspondence from a private investigator and solicitors about the treatment of a family identified as suspects during the investigation into the death of cattle-dealer Richie Barron.
The tribunal has heard evidence from the secretary general of the department, Seán Aylward, that extensive correspondence was received about the case from private investigator Billy Flynn and Binchys solicitors, both representing the McBrearty family.
Letters from Mr Flynn and Binchys began almost a year before a file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions in March 1998 concerning the case.
"In hindsight given the extent of the correspondence its slightly surprising that we weren't advised, don't appear to be advised that a file was sent to the DPP," Mr Aylward said.
Mr Aylward said initial correspondence was dealt with at a junior level within the department. "It was being processed among thousands of pieces of correspondence, and relatively junior people were forwarding it in a post-box fashion to the Garda commissioner," he said.
"Eventually this correspondence reached monumental scale," Mr Aylward said, with over 1,200 letters received from Mr Flynn alone.
"I don't know personally or directly what level of seriousness this was treated with at the time. It was a very slow realisation that we had something terrible here."
Mr Aylward said more effective mechanisms for dealing with complaints about An Garda Síochána were being put in place because of the work of the tribunal, and the proposed ombudsman commission would have "far wider powers than the Garda Complaints Board ever had".
These would include its own investigators, the power to arrest and question gardaí and the power to order gardaí to respond to questions. "It does reflect very much the acceptance by the Minister and the Government of the tribunal's findings. It's quite a significant fruit of the tribunal's work."
Mr Aylward agreed the first interim report of the tribunal had not been debated by the Dáil, but said it "formed the mood music for the legislation" in the debate on the Garda Bill.
"Another institution, the Garda inspectorate, is also being established by this legislation," Mr Aylward said. This would be a "bipolar structure" holding the Garda authority to account, not just individual actions, which would be the focus of the ombudsman commission, but also bring international best practice to the fore.
"The Garda Síochána as a force generally has been very successfully in policing by consent over the last 80 years, and while this is a horrific story being looked at by the tribunal, it's not a typical episode in the life of An Garda Síochána, " said Mr Aylward.