A retired senior Garda officer who was strongly criticised by the Morris tribunal was since recruited to interview candidates for the Garda Reserve, The Irish Timeshas learned.
Former Supt John Fitzgerald was criticised by Mr Justice Frederick Morris for leading the "utterly negligent" investigation into the death of cattle dealer Richie Barron.
Mr Fitzgerald was the district officer in Letterkenny from the time of Mr Barron's death in October 1996 until February 1997, when he moved to a new post in Manorhamilton, Co Leitrim.
His explanation about how he handled the false confession of Frank McBrearty jnr relating to Mr Barron's death was not accepted by the tribunal. Its report of June 2005 noted the investigation into Mr Barron's death was "prejudiced, tendentious and utterly negligent in the highest degree".
Mr Fitzgerald, and three other members, all shared "in various degrees the burden of fault for this matter", the tribunal concluded.
However, despite the criticisms, he was recruited to interview applicants to the new Garda Reserve. He conducted interviews in Sligo.
His presence on the interview panel only became known when a former member of the force applied to become a reservist. When the candidate went for interview he recognised Mr Fitzgerald. The candidate was said to be surprised to see the retired superintendent on the panel.
A spokeswoman for Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said Mr Fitzgerald had helped conduct interviews for a short period, understood to be one day.
This had been done by An Garda Síochána without the knowledge of the department.
The spokesman added that it was common practice for retired members to conduct interviews because officers could not be spared to attend the large number of interviews taking place relating to reservist recruitment.
The Garda Press Office did not comment last night.
In its reports of June 2005 the Morris tribunal said that while Mr Fitzgerald was an able and experienced officer, he had made a fundamental error in failing to request the then State pathologist Prof John Harbison to attend the scene of Mr Barron's death.
The tribunal concluded that Prof Harbison could have clarified that the cattle dealer had died in an accident and that the subsequent murder investigation would never have been launched.
Mr Justice Morris also said that while he believed a conversation had taken place between Mr Fitzgerald and Prof Harbison, he was satisfied that there was never an expressed request for the State pathologist to attend the scene.
"I believe that Supt Fitzgerald, in recounting his version of the story has allowed a process of self-justification to colour his recollection," Mr Justice Morris stated.
However, he said he did not believe that Supt Fitzgerald had attempted to mislead the tribunal. Mr Justice Morris was unable to accept Supt Fitzgerald's evidence that he had attempted to contact the DPP for instructions after Mr McBrearty's alleged confession to participating in the death of Mr Barron.
Mr Fitzgerald was unavailable to comment last night.