Morris Tribunal: A senior garda alleged to have arranged bogus explosives finds in Donegal a decade ago has told the Morris tribunal he was singled out to be disciplined for all the ills in Donegal.
Supt Kevin Lennon said he told the Carty inquiry he was not at Adrienne McGlinchey's flat when it was searched in March 1994, and did not take any part in the arrest or interrogation of Ms McGlinchey, because he didn't feel they would believe him if he told them the incident was another guard's responsibility.
The suspended superintendent told the tribunal that now-retired Sgt Des Walsh was in charge of a search of the flat of alleged informer Ms McGlinchey, and it was his responsibility to prepare the file on the search.
He said when the Carty inquiry began, "I was served with disciplinary papers in relation to this matter that I didn't deal with it appropriately." He didn't believe a disciplinary committee would listen to his defence that it was Des Walsh's responsibility.
Supt Kevin Lennon and Det Garda Noel McMahon are alleged to have arranged bogus arms finds in Donegal a decade ago. Both gardaí deny these allegations by Ms McGlinchey, and Ms McGlinchey denies she was ever an informer.
Supt Lennon also gave evidence about a "frustration exercise" a decade ago to prevent home-made explosives being transported to Northern Ireland.
The senior garda said he was told by Ms McGlinchey's handler, Det McMahon, that the home-made explosives would be brought to Bridgend by Ms McGlinchey in a red taxi.
Tribunal chairman Mr Justice Frederick Morris said he had to "wonder at the lack of response from the guards" once they found out this information. "Your response was to have tea, go to Buncrana, and then lay plans to stop this. What on earth was going on?" he asked. "Couldn't you have gone to the taxi man and made contact with him?"
Supt Lennon said the gardaí needed time to find a way to stop the delivery without exposing Ms McGlinchey.
"What I can't understand is the lackadaisical speed at which you reacted to this," the judge said. "Either this was gross negligence or it was something else."
"Well it wasn't something else. That's the way we dealt with it," Supt Lennon said. A checkpoint was set up near the Border.