MORRIS TRIBUNAL: A Garda inspector has been giving evidence at the Morris tribunal about a search of the flat of an alleged informant, Ms Adrienne McGlinchey.
On March 14th, 1994, Insp Patrick J. McMorrow said, he was at a conference in Letterkenny. When he arrived at Buncrana station that evening, he was told a search had been made of Ms McGlinchey's flat.
He was told the landlord had reported some activity in the flat, and a search warrant had been obtained. He had not been told there was a delay of several hours between the report and the warrant being obtained.
Det Insp Kevin Lennon was in charge of the operation, as far as he could tell. "Lennon was a detective inspector [at the time] and he would be involved or in charge of major operations," he said.
The inspector said he would not have had authority to issue a search warrant, and did not know who had issued it. Mr Peter Charleton SC, for the tribunal, said the warrant had gone missing.
At the search, 37 bags of icing sugar/fertiliser mix, as well as bags of sugar and fertiliser and welding rods were found. The inspector said he was told the materials were found in a flat occupied by Adrienne McGlinchey and Yvonne Devine.
Supt Kevin Lennon told the tribunal he had also been in Letterkenny that day along with Supt O'Connor and Insp McMorrow, and had received a call from the latter at his home that evening.
"I can tell you I was not at the search, and I was not in charge of the investigation," Supt Lennon said.
"I get the impression that this was a ship without a rudder, that nobody was in charge," said Mr Justice Morris.
He asked the inspector if any file had been created, or if a log book had recorded who had issued the search warrant. The file began with his preliminary report, Insp McMorrow said, and the rest followed from that.
The tribunal is examining allegations that Ms McGlinchey, together with Det Garda Noel McMahon and Det Supt Kevin Lennon - both currently suspended - mixed explosives that were later used in bogus Garda finds of terrorist arms. Both men have denied those claims, and Ms McGlinchey has maintained she was never an IRA informer.