A Donegal garda has said he was told an IRA suspect arrested after the discovery of a large bomb in Ballindrait, Co Donegal, was released because of the intervention of President Mary Robinson.
Garda Martin Leonard said he wasn't surprised when Ms Adrienne McGlinchey was released at 10.30 a.m. on July 8th, 1992, after being arrested under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.
Previously the tribunal had heard that Ms McGlinchey wasn't released until 8.20 p.m. that night, as recorded in a telex sent to Garda HQ from Letterkenny at the time.
"The excuse that was given to me at the time was that Mary Robinson intervened. Mary Robinson was in the Labour Party, and I knew that Karen McGlinchey was involved in the Labour Party," Garda Martin Leonard said.
Karen McGlinchey is the sister of the alleged informer, Adrienne McGlinchey.
The tribunal is examining allegations by Ms McGlinchey that, together with suspended Det Garda Noel McMahon and Supt Kevin Lennon, she mixed explosives which were later used in bogus Garda finds of terrorist arms. Both men have denied those claims, and Ms McGlinchey denies she was an informer.
Ms McGlinchey was arrested early in the morning of July 8th, 1991, coming from Rahan, Letterkenny, an area where known republicans lived, following the discovery of a large bomb in Ballindrait, Co Donegal.
Mr Brian Gallagher said his client, Karen McGlinchey, had not joined the Labour Party until 1993.
Mr Justice Morris told Garda Leonard that his evidence made him look like "someone who jumps to conclusions and makes frivolous accusations." Garda Leonard agreed he could not "back it up".
Later, Garda Leonard told the chairman he did not want to come across as evasive.
Garda Leonard, a GRA representative in Donegal, also told the tribunal that gardaí being questioned over internal disciplinary matters would not name names.
"We don't want to get anybody into trouble in the Garda Síochána," he told Mr Peter Charleton SC. "We try our best to make sure we are not going to be hanging anybody."
Mr Charleton observed that it was not a far cry from this culture of non-cooperation by not naming somebody to a conspiracy to name the wrong person, or to ensuring that inquiries or tribunals were led up the garden path. Garda Leonard denied this was the case.
The tribunal continues on Monday.