Morris tribunal: Ms Yvonne Devine told the Morris tribunal that she had never suspected there was anything sinister in Ms Adrienne McGlinchey having ground fertiliser and buying steel items, paraphernalia and bullets in the early 1990s
Ms Devine, a niece of Pearse McCauley, who had worked with Ms McGlinchey in her mother's restaurant, said it did not cross her mind that Ms McGlinchey, with whom she shared a flat in Buncrana, might be a republican or a member of an illegal organisation in spite of being constantly stopped questioned and arrested by gardaí. She was very naive at the time as she was only 16 in 1991.
She said she could not recall a number of events that Ms McGlinchey had alleged in evidence. These included telling the gardaí that Ms McGlinchey had been kidnapped.
During Ms Devine's evidence the chairman, Mr Justice Morris, made a number of interventions, at times seeming exasperated and at one point exclaiming: "Surely to heavens, we're talking about the real world here."
Ms Devine said she saw Ms McGlinchey with ground fertiliser twice but had no idea what it was for. The first time she suspected there might be something suspicious was when she saw Ms McGlinchey put a box with a bullet in under a bridge in Strabane in 1993. Ms Devine said she had freaked out and walked away.
Mr Anthony Barr SC, for the tribunal, asked if she could recall Ms McGlinchey having bullets before the Strabane incident. Ms Devine said she could. Ms McGlinchey said she bought bullets from Barney in the flat upstairs. She agreed Ms McGlinchey did not have a gun.
"I did find it strange but Adrienne got bullets from the man upstairs. She liked that paraphernalia type of stuff. I didn't think it was sinister on her part."
Mr Barr asked if she thought it was strange in 1993 that Ms McGlinchey was going to factories and buying electrical components, steel items, obtaining a tripod, buying paraphanalia and bullets.
The chairman interjected: "Are you serious about this? She had this paraphernalia and you asked her about it. Did it cross your mind that she might be a republican?"
Ms Devine said it never occurred to her as Ms McGlinchey had never said she wanted to be, never expressed anything to do with it. Ms McGlinchey was not a republican.
Mr Barr asked Ms Devine about the Strabane incident on September 11th, 1993.
Ms Devine said they were just walking along and Ms McGlinchey took a lunchbox out of a bag and proceeded to bring it down.
"I think it was a cartridge or bullet of some sort. I remember I freaked out because we were in Strabane and she had bullets and she was placing them underneath the bridge and I freaked out and I walked off on her. I was very agitated and annoyed that she did this to me."
Mr Barr asked about an occasion in October 1993 in the flat in Buncrana when Ms McGlinchey panicked and was allegedly seen throwing fertiliser out of the window when she said the gardaí were coming.
Ms Devine said she heard a commotion and Ms McGlinchey was panicking and had a bag of fertiliser. She asked Ms McGlinchey what was wrong and she said she thought the gardaí were coming in.
It was the second time she had seen fertiliser in the flat. The first time was when she went with Ms McGlinchey to buy fertiliser and she brought it back to the flat and put it on the floor of the sitting room.