The internal Garda report into allegations of corruption among gardai stationed in Donegal contains details of an incident in which one of the officers under investigation secretly taperecorded a conversation with a senior garda in a north Dublin pub.
It is understood that during the conversation the senior officer makes a proposal to the officer who, at that stage, had already been arrested as part of an investigation into serious allegations concerning the alleged concocting of evidence.
Any secret meeting of this nature between a garda under investigation and such a senior officer would be, at least, highly unconventional.
According to Garda sources yesterday, the mere fact that the meeting took place in the circumstances of the major investigation into alleged corruption among gardai in Donegal could lead to the resignation of the senior officer involved.
Sources close to the Donegal investigation assert that the officer under investigation may have threatened to release details about previous Garda operations if charges were brought against him.
He is understood to feel aggrieved because he regards the complaints against him of concocting evidence as groundless and that he is being made a scapegoat.
He is also said to feel that his record of involvement in potentially dangerous Garda work was not taken into consideration by gardai who were part of the internal investigation.
The report into the allegations arising from events in Co Donegal was presented to the Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, at Garda Headquarters in Dublin yesterday by Assistant Commissioner Fachtna Murphy, who had charge of the investigation.
Inquiries into Garda actions in Donegal began in 1998 after an investigation into the murder of a man in Raphoe collapsed amid serious allegations. Members of the pub-owning McBrearty family say they were accused unfairly of involvement in the killing of another local man, Richard Barron, in 1996.
Local gardai subsequently brought a succession of charges under licensing laws against the McBrearty family. The Director of Public Prosecutions withdrew a total of 160 charges against the family earlier this year.
While the McBrearty case was being investigated, gardai in the north of the county came under scrutiny after allegations were made that a small number of officers were inventing details about explosives finds, apparently to boost their careers.
These allegations include claims that gardai planted explosives in hides around the county and, in one instance, inside Northern Ireland in Co Tyrone and then pretended to "find" them again.
It is understood the explosives came from Garda stores, where finds of IRA explosives and arms were held. Subsequently, it is alleged, gardai were actually involved in making their own sugar-fertiliser mixture.
There are also further allegations, investigated by a large team of detectives who travelled to Donegal from other divisions, that drugs were planted in a licensed premises. This allegation, if proved, could lead to some of the most serious charges against gardai.
The report into the Donegal allegations will be studied by the Garda Commissioner, who is then due to pass it on to the Director of Public Prosecutions to see if it contains sufficient evidence to bring criminal charges. There has been no indication to date that the Government intends to make the report public.