The garda on duty in Lifford on the night of Richard Barron's death rejected a suggestion that he "shunted off" the call concerning an apparent hit-and-run accident because he was about to take his meal break.
Garda P.J. McDermott was giving evidence at the Morris tribunal in Donegal yesterday. He said he was station orderly on duty that night and Garda John Birney and Garda James McDwyer were on patrol car duty. They were due to go on their meal-break at 1 a.m. and he normally took his at 1.15 a.m.
He said he received a call from communications in Letterkenny shortly after 1 a.m., saying there had been a road traffic accident.
The garda in communications was not sure whether it was in Townparks, Raphoe or Townparks, Convoy, he said. Garda McDermott knew a Mrs McBride in Convoy and the call had come from a Mrs McBride, so they concluded it was Convoy.
He said the station responsible for this town was Ballybofey and suggested that its car be sent, which was agreed, he said.
The president and sole member of the tribunal, Mr Justice Morris, said: "It is strange. He's written down Townparks, Raphoe and you managed to convince him this wasn't correct. How did that arise?"
Garda McDermott denied he had convinced his colleague that the accident had happened in Convoy. "There was a misunderstanding somewhere along the line," he said.
Mr Justice Morris asked him to respond to a hypothesis he would put to him. "Here you were, at about 1.15, about to take a meal break. This nuisance of a call comes through. If it was in Raphoe it would mean you couldn't go for a meal, so what you did was shunt off the call to Convoy. What do you say?"
"That is certainly not the case," said Garda McDermott. "After 30 years in the Garda Síochána, I know a meal break is more a privilege than a right. One of the things I know is that I should always go the extra mile for the public."
The ambulance man who was called to the scene of the accident described receiving the call concerning an accident in Raphoe, where a man was reported injured. His co-driver, Mr Leonard Diver, asked their control if it was Townparks, Raphoe or Townparks, Convoy, and was told the call had come from Raphoe.
After arriving at the scene they realised the seriousness of Mr Barron's condition and attempted emergency resuscitation both at the scene and in the ambulance. Because of the seriousness of the accident they asked ambulance control to contact the gardaí in order to pursue the hit-and-run driver. Gardaí had not arrived when they left at about 1.30.
At the beginning of the hearing, Mr Tom Creed SC, counsel for Garda John O'Dowd and Garda Pádraig Mulligan, based in Raphoe at the time, sought a correction to Mr Peter Charleton SC's opening statement on Wednesday concerning his clients.
It was not the case, he said, that an account of their movements on the night of Mr Barron's death was only "extracted" from them recently by an investigator for the tribunal.
This had been given in a statement sent to the tribunal in January as part of the discovery process. He accepted they did not give this to the Carty inquiry.
Mr Justice Morris said: "Surely the issue is not whether they gave the information to Chief Supt Garvey [investigator for the tribunal] but when they gave it. It should be normal practice that if a member of the Garda Síochána is asked to account for his movements he should do so."