MORRIS TRIBUNAL: A former senior garda in the Buncrana division has said that he feels "embarrassed" at revelations concerning the handling of alleged garda informer Ms Adrienne McGlinchey.
Retired Chief Supt Seán Ginty told the tribunal he "missed an opportunity" when Det Sgt Des Walsh approached him to voice his concerns about Ms McGlinchey's activities.
The tribunal is examining claims that Ms McGlinchey, together with two currently suspended detectives, Supt Kevin Lennon and Garda Noel McMahon, prepared explosives for subsequent use in bogus arms finds.
The two officers have both denied those claims, and Ms McGlinchey has insisted she never had an informer's role.
Tribunal chairman Mr Justice Frederick Morris observed that "one of the curious features of this story is that the dogs in the street seem to have known that she was an informer".
"Knowing the culture of the Garda Síochána, there would be whispering going on," Mr Ginty said. "It's like any organisation - there's a grapevine. The word gets around."
Gardaí received no specific training in the handling of informants, Mr Ginty said. "We learned on the job as we went along. I did feel a bit uneasy about the behaviour in Buncrana, but I didn't know the full extent of it," Mr Ginty said. "I concede that I feel somewhat embarrassed. I sometimes wonder was I somewhat naive."
Mr Ginty said of Supt Kevin Lennon that he "never at any time had any cause to question his integrity right up to 1999 when the news broke".
"My response on hearing that was to make contact with him," he said. "I'd heard he was under considerable stress."
Mr Ginty said he heard that one of Supt Lennon's children came home from school and asked: "Is it true Dad that they're sending you to jail?"
In the spirit of a peer support scheme, he made it his business to visit Supt Lennon "to let him feel he wasn't isolated, give a little bit of support, let him talk himself out".