Morris Tribunal: A senior garda did not conduct a follow-up investigation after an arms find outside Donegal town in 1993 because he did not wish to put an informer's life at risk, the Morris Tribunal has heard.
Mr Michael Duffy, a retired superintendent in the Ballyshannon district, was giving evidence concerning an alleged explosives find made in Ardchicken, outside Donegal town, on 19th November 1993.
Mr Duffy said that a few days after the find he spoke to Supt (then Insp) Lennon. The inspector said he was happy with the way the find was dealt with, and so was his informer. "His contact wouldn't have been put under any pressure by the way it was dealt with," Mr Duffy said.
Mr Duffy said that after he had seen the body of a young man found by the Border "it came home to me what would happen if informers were exposed. I did not want to know who Kevin Lennon's informer was."
"I had absolutely no experience in dealing with informants," Mr Duffy explained, when asked why no debriefing had taken place.
"I did not want to frighten away the informant or put him or her under pressure by an investigation."
Finds were normally a result of routine searches or chance discoveries by members of the public. "In all my time in Ballyshannon I was never aware that there was an informant operating for the guards in the area," he said.