Garda chief denies influence of IRA link in recruiting source

A FRIENDSHIP between the alleged police informer, Adrienne McGlinchey, and a niece of the leading IRA figure, Pearse McAuley, played no part in a senior detective's assessment of Ms McGlinchey as a source in relation to terrorist activities, the Morris Tribunal was told yesterday.

Central inquiry witness Detective Superintendent Kevin Lennon had rejected consideration of the family link between the man who once shot his way out of police custody in Brixton, and Yvonne Devine, a flatmate of Ms McGlinchey in Co Donegal during the 1990s, when examining the credentials of the Letterkenny woman as a genuine informer.

While admitting that he knew of Ms Devine's family background, Supt Lennon insisted in the face of cross-examination from her lawyer, Brian Walsh, that "I did not factor that in. I don't know what other people thought.