Morris Tribunal to publish second report in June

The second interim report of the Morris Tribunal into allegations of Garda corruption in Donegal is to be published this summer, it emerged today.

The tribunal said in a statement that it hoped to deliver the report to Justice Minister Michael McDowell in early June.

“The Tribunal expects to have then sat for in excess of 330 days and… will have heard the evidence of approximately 300 witnesses in the course of those hearings,” it said.

The second report will contain the findings of Judge Frederick Morris on the Garda investigation into the death of cattle dealer Richie Barron in Raphoe, Co Donegal in 1996.

It will also examine extortion phone calls which were made by a Garda informer to the home of a local Donegal family, falsely accusing them of involvement in the death of Richie Barron. The tribunal has heard evidence that one of the calls was made from the home of a garda.

The Morris Tribunal had planned to publish its second report after the completion of another module into the arrest and detention of suspects in connection with the death of Richie Barron.

However, the "Barron" module has taken more than 150 days of public sittings and it is understood that the tribunal team want to deliver some "product".

The Morris Tribunal was established by the Dáil in April 2002 and began public sittings three months later.

Its first interim report last year dealt with hoax explosives finds in the Donegal Garda Division and led to the early retirement of Chief Superintendent Denis Fitzpatrick, the resignation of Garda Noel McMahon and the dismissal of Superintendent Kevin Lennon, Garda John O’Dowd and Garda Patrick Mulligan.

Judge Morris is expected to rule on costs for the witnesses involved in the Barron module, after the publication of the report.