The head of the Garda Security and Intelligence Service has told the Special Criminal Court that the disclosure of documents relating to a Belfast man accused of the capital murder of a garda 18 years ago would be "very serious to the security of the State".
Det Chief Supt Dermot Jennings said he would fear for the life of Garda informants if the documents were disclosed to lawyers acting for Mr Sean "Bap" Hughes.
The superintendent claimed privilege in relation to five documents from a Department of Justice file on Mr Hughes. The court will rule today on the issue of privilege and on whether the documents can be disclosed to the defence.
Mr Hughes (42), of Albert Terrace, Belfast, is charged with the capital murder of Garda Patrick Reynolds in Tallaght, Co Dublin, on February 20th, 1982. He is also charged with robbery in Askeaton, Co Limerick, on February 18th, 1982, and with possession of firearms and ammunition with intent to endanger life in Tallaght on February 20th, 1982.
The court has been told that gardai attended an informal identification procedure in Paris in November 1982, organised by the French authorities, at which the accused man was allegedly identified by gardai.
Yesterday, Det Chief Supt Jennings said that if documents from the Department of Justice file were disclosed he would be concerned that they would expose a source of information and that that person would be in severe danger.
He said he became aware of the documents last Thursday and ordered a search of files at Garda Headquarters. The documents were in a file relating to intelligence matters and the gardai involved in the investigation of the Garda Reynolds murder would not have been aware of their existence.
The five documents for which he claimed privilege were an internal Garda report, dated March 3rd, 1983, from Chief Supt Ned O'Dea to the Commissioner, with 12 attachments; an internal Department of Justice minute, dated January 18th, 1988; an internal Department of Justice note, dated February 9th, 1988; an internal Department of Justice minute, dated January 19th, 1988; and a memo from the then Assistant Commissioner, Stephen Fanning, to the Department of Justice, dated April 3rd, 1987.
The superintendent said he had spoken to the DPP at the weekend and the DPP had expressed grave concern about disclosure of the documents.
Lawyers for Mr Hughes have sought full disclosure from the State of all documents relating to the purported identification of Mr Hughes in France and to the attempt to extradite him from there.
Counsel for the DPP, Mr Eamonn Leahy SC, told the court last week that all relevant documents had been disclosed, but on Thursday he said that other documents relating to Mr Hughes had been located in the Departments of Justice and Foreign Affairs.