During farm search for DJ

adding a “very small quantity of soiled water” came out, estimating it at about 100 litres.

Under cross-examination, Gda Ryan told Bernard Condon SC, for the defence, that he could have asked Mr Quirke if there were any other “slurry tanks”, rather than “tanks”.

He told Mr Condon that he can’t be sure but he is “nearly certain” that he emptied the tank under the direction of his superintendent.

Asked if it struck him as odd that a senior Garda member would ask him to empty a tank at a crime scene, Gda Ryan replied: “No judge.”

Mr Condon continued: “You were not at all surprised at a crime scene where a body had been found?”

The witness replied: “The tractor was pulled away from where the body was found.”

Asked if anyone had thought to collect the contents, pass it through a sieve or film the emptying of the tank on a mobile phone, Gda Ryan replied that they had not.

He said he did not know if the superintendent was watching the process and couldn’t remember if anyone was wearing a forensic suit.

Asked if he had taken notes, Gda Ryan said he did not.

Meanwhile, retired garda Tony Chearnley said he was asked to use an excavator to pull the large concrete lid from the tank where Mr Ryan’s body was discovered. While lifting the lid, it broke and a lot of “small pieces” fell into the tank. He told the trial that the concrete breaking up was “not ideal”, but said: “We don’t live in an ideal world. It wasn’t ideal but that was the best I could do.”

There was no ‘panic’ amongst gardaí when this happened, he said.

The trial continues.

While lifting the lid, it broke and a lot of ‘small pieces’ fell into the tank