Gardaí denied costs for 'decieving' tribunal
A Garda superintendent and three rank-and-file gardaí were today refused legal costs for failing to co-operate with the Morris Tribunal.
Judge Frederick Morris said Superintendent Kevin Lennon had lied to the tribunal on almost every issue.
The suspended officer, who represented himself at the tribunal, applied for €37,600 in costs incurred from working six hours every night for 150 nights. He set himself a rate of €40 an hour and also claimed for photocopying and typing expenses.
Judge Morris said: “The idea that the people of Ireland should be asked to pay 40 euro an hour for the many hours he undoubtedly spent trying to deceive the tribunal, preventing it from getting to the truth, is unrealistic.
The Morris Tribunal, which is investigating corruption in the Donegal Garda division, also refused costs to former Detective Garda Noel McMahon. He resigned from the force in the summer after the tribunal’s interim report found that he had lied about the planting of hoax explosives.
Judge Morris said: “I totally reject his application for costs.”
Two other gardaí in the Donegal division, Garda Martin Leonard and Garda PJ Thornton, were not awarded costs for failing to co-operate with the tribunal.
Adrienne McGlinchy, the Donegal woman who was found to have knowingly aided Superintendent Kevin Lennon and Garda Noel McMahon in their fake explosives finds, was awarded 75% costs.
Judge Morris said she had lied to the tribunal in three areas but added that she had recounted events truthfully. He said she should be considered a whistleblower who had acted in the public interest by exposing Garda corruption.
Judge Morris said: “The tribunal recognises that if people such as Adrienne McGlinchey were not prepared to act as whistleblowers, it would be difficult for any investigating agency to track down corruption.”
The tribunal’s interim report found Adrienne McGlinchey pretended to be an IRA informer and was a willing participant in the fake explosives finds staged by Superintendent Kevin Lennon and Garda Noel McMahon.
Counsel for the Tribunal, Peter Charlton, SC said in his submission that the tribunal had been forced to prise open ‘a nut hardened by lies’ due to the conduct of some witnesses. Judge Morris said the people of Ireland should not have to pay the costs incurred by these witnesses.
Yvonne Devine, who gave evidence to the tribunal about her activities with her friend Adrienne McGlinchey, was found to have deliberately withheld valuable information. Judge Morris awarded her costs of 50%.
“Had she given a full and frank account of matters which must have been within her knowledge, the work of the tribunal would have been significantly shortened. Unfortunately, she did not do so,” he said.
In total, Judge Morris awarded full costs to 11 people and two Garda associations, partial costs to three people and no costs to five people.
Superintendent Kevin Lennon said he did not want to comment on Judge Morris’s ruling.
Judge Morris praised Sheenagh McMahon for displaying ‘great courage’ in giving evidence against her former husband, Garda Noel McMahon. The 43-year-old mother was awarded all her costs.
The Garda Representative Association (GRA) and the Association of Garda Sergeants (AGSI) were awarded costs for being represented at the tribunal. The AGSI also provided representation for seven of its members. Six of them were found to have co-operated with the tribunal by giving honest evidence and providing all documents in their possession.
However, Judge Morris only awarded 75% costs to a retired Sergeant, James Leheny, who was found not to have given a full account of an explosives find in Letterkenny in 1994.
Buncrana solicitor Paudge Dorrian failed in his application for costs, after the tribunal rejected his version of a meeting with former Donegal Chief Superintendent Denis Fitzgerald in 1999.
Following the completion of the module on explosives finds, the Morris Tribunal is now focusing on matters surrounding the death of cattle dealer Richie Barron in Raphoe, Co Donegal in 1996.
After the costs ruling, the tribunal adjourned until 10.30am on Thursday September 30.
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