Garda denies being involved in hoax explosives finds

Det Garda Noel McMahon, one of the central figures in the Morris tribunal, took the stand for the first time yesterday and denied any involvement in hoax explosives and bomb-making equipment finds.

Since last March, the tribunal has been hearing allegations that the suspended detective orchestrated a number of these "finds" with Supt Kevin Lennon and alleged Garda informant Ms Adrienne McGlinchey.

Yesterday Det Garda McMahon said the allegations were "totally false" and he was never involved in these activities.

He said he had cultivated Ms McGlinchey as an informant because she had access to information about the IRA. She told him she was having a relationship with a person who was "very high graded" within the organisation. "He would have been very active and very dangerous," he said.

"I never maintained that she was a fully-fledged member of the IRA," he said, but she had access to information which an average person would not have.

Ms McGlinchey has denied being an informant and has told the tribunal that Det Garda McMahon pressurised her into the planting of hoax explosives.

He told the tribunal that he first met Ms McGlinchey when she was arrested in July 1991, following the discovery of a large bomb in Ballindrait, near Lifford.

She was coming from Rahan, where known republicans lived.

He and another colleague interviewed her in Letterkenny Garda station, but the interview was not a success, as she tried to escape through the window of the room three times. At one point, she tried to scale a nine-foot-high gate.

"I wouldn't call it a good interview," he said. Ms McGlinchey was panicked and did not want her mother to hear of the arrest.

When Det Garda McMahon took the stand just after 3 p.m. yesterday, the tribunal heard the history of his career in the Garda Síochána. From Clones, Co Monaghan, he had 20 years' experience in the force before his suspension.

He worked in the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) and the special detective unit in Dublin before moving to Donegal. He said he really enjoyed the work. "It's great if you could save someone's life or stop damage to property." The detective felt he had an aptitude for building up trust with informants. "I thought I was quite good at talking to them and building a relationship.

"I treated them with respect I thought I was quite good and was successful."

Ms McGlinchey gave him and a colleague "teasing snippets" of information, and while some of her behaviour was bizarre, the information "created a doubt that you had to keep working with her," he said.

On one occasion, she was discovered with a camcorder, filming at the rebuilt British army base at Coshquin, on the Donegal/Derry border. It had earlier been blown up by the IRA after they tied a man into a car loaded with explosives and ordered him to drive to the checkpoint. The driver, Patsy Gillespie, and five British soldiers were killed in the attack.

Asked if it was foolhardy to start videoing the base, given her alleged IRA links, Det Garda McMahon said: "She didn't seem to have any fear".

Det Garda McMahon resumes his evidence at the tribunal in the Belfield Office Park, Clonskeagh, Dublin, this morning. He is likely to be in the witness stand for at least a week.