Irish Independent Tue May 11th 04 Bomber argued with witness an hour before blast  Caroline Crawford THE man responsible for setting the Parnell Street device was involved in a verbal argument with a witness an hour before the car bomb exploded.  The inquest into the Dublin-Monaghan bombings heard from Seamus Fitzpatrick that he had approached the driver's window of the bomb car and remonstrated with the man, who was agitatedly trying to occupy the space Mr Fitzpatrick was leaving.  Mr Fitzpatrick told the court that he had been shopping in town with his pregnant wife on May 17, 1974 and had been returning to the car after 4.30pm.  He noticed the driver of a green car searching for a parking space and indicated to the man that he was leaving and the driver acknowledged him.  However, as Mr Fitzpatrick packed his parcels into the boot and helped his wife into the car, the waiting driver became agitated. "I went over to the driver's window and remonstrated with him," Mr Fitzpatrick said. The witness added that he had found it unusual that throughout this the driver did not roll down his window despite it being a hot day.  Later that evening when Mr Fitzpatrick heard of the bombing and saw the scene of the blast on the television, he returned to Parnell Street to inform gardai of what he had witnessed.  He described the man as being between 30 and 35 years old with a fair complexion and fair medium-length hair. He was of average build and Mr Fitzgerald had the impression that he was wearing a macintosh.  Despite stating that he had seen the man quite clearly, Mr Fitzpatrick was never asked to co-operate in a photofit. Mr Fitzpatrick added that he was puzzled about an earlier statement from him in which he claimed he would be unable to identify the man. The inquest also heard from Det Supt John O'Mahony that the suspect behind this bombing was identified and had an address in Portadown. He said that from an early stage gardai had believed the bombings to have been carried out by loyalist paramilitaries.  Det Supt O'Mahony added that he became aware through media reports about questions that loyalist groups would not have had the capacity to carry out the bombings alone.  He also gave evidence concerning the owners of the cars used in the blasts, all of which had reported their vehicles stolen in the North. The owners were William Scott, William Shannen, Dermot Crossy and Aerial taxi company.  Meanwhile, the court heard evidence from Ted Jones, who was a member of the ballistics team that at no stage did the four forensic examiners involved meet to discuss what was found at each site.