A garda superintendent has denied before the Court of Criminal Appeal that he brought explosives to be placed in a disused shed near a Co Donegal beach.
Supt Kevin Lennon also denied other allegations made against him by two Donegal women and said he had never engaged in any unlawful activity during his career.
Supt Lennon said he had given £300 in 1994 to Ms Adrienne McGlinchey, of Letterkenny, for information she had supplied to gardaí. However, he never gave her money to buy drugs and never asked her to buy drugs.
He said he had no dealings with Ms McGlinchey in relation to the Point Inn nightclub at Inishowen and never had any knowledge that she was asked to go to the Point by Det Garda Noel McMahon.
He said several internal Garda bulletins related to Ms McGlinchey and covered dates from 1991 to 1993. She had been recorded in those documents as reliable.
Ms McGlinchey had alleged that he had planted a tripod at Bridgend on January 31st 1993, but he could prove he was on a residential training course in Templemore at the time.
He was never "plastered drunk" in Ms McGlinchey's flat, was never in her flat and never drank in Garda stations or Garda cars. He saw Ms McGlinchey drunk in Det Garda McMahon's home, but he had not used obscene language about her. He had never planted fertiliser in her flat in Buncrana. He said she had told gardaí in May 1993 that the IRA was using her flat to store equipment.
He had gone to Ms McGlinchey's shop in March 1999 in response to two phone calls from her. He did not know how she got his mobile phone number. He had not asked her to scare Ms Sheena McMahon, the estranged wife of Det Garda McMahon, or not to speak to the Carty inquiry.
Supt Lennon said he was promoted to superintendent in February 1996. He had received a divisional award in summer 1995 as Garda of the Year. He had not applied for that award but believed that Det Garda McMahon had.
Supt Lennon was giving evidence at the continuing hearing of an application by Mr Frank Shortt, owner of the Point Inn, for a certificate declaring a miscarriage of justice in his case. Mr Shortt was jailed for three years in 1995 for knowingly allowing his nightclub to be used for the sale of drugs. The conviction was quashed in November 2000.
Yesterday, Supt Lennon agreed he had suggested to Det Garda McMahon that the detective use a particular format for a letter which, the superintendent said, Det Garda McMahon had offered to write in 1996. In that letter, the detective wrote: "I have never know Supt Kevin Lennon while in any rank to take part in or authorise any unlawful activity or operation . . . to act illegally while in the course of duty or off- duty . . . to act illegally while participating in any operation".
Supt Lennon said he told Det Garda McMahon that letter was for the "wrong man" and that he should have written to a Sgt Jim Leheny (now retired). Det Garda McMahon had then written the letter referred to, the format of which was suggested by Supt Lennon.
He agreed that Det Garda McMahon's behaviour at that stage was odd and unpredictable. He also agreed that he had expressed concerns to Sgt Leheny that the sergeant and Det Garda McMahon were drinking at night while on duty.
Mr Justice Hardiman said the court had been told that Det Garda McMahon had told his wife he had been compelled by the superintendent to write the letter. The judge suggested the most obvious effect of the letter was that anyone who wrote it would find it difficult to make any subsequent allegation about Supt Lennon.
Asked by the judge if Supt Lennon's suggested format for the letter was not an "extraordinary draft" for a senior officer to give to a Garda, the superintendent said that it was probably a "foolhardy and stupid" document.
The hearing resumes on Tuesday.
