Garda legal team may return to tribunal

Legal representatives of the gardaí involved in the Abbeylara siege are expected to return to the Barr Tribunal next week, after a ruling made yesterday by the chairman of the inquiry.

The Emergency Response Unit and local officers involved in the shooting of John Carthy have been without representation over the past week, after their legal team withdrew from proceedings over a row between Justice Robert Barr and their senior counsel, John Rogers.

In an opening statement yesterday, Justice Barr addressed one of the main issues that caused the conflict, and it is understood he allayed the concerns of the gardaí.

While making no reference to the absence of garda representation over the past few days, Justice Barr made a ruling on the ‘fifth bullet’ theory, which was at the root of the rift with Mr Rogers.

Before Christmas, Justice Barr failed to dismiss the ‘fifth bullet’ suggestion, which would imply that an armed officer at the scene had shot John Carthy, but had never declared his actions. Such a suggestion led Mr Rogers to claim the chairman was making “entirely outrageous comments”, and resulted in the senior counsel resigning his post.

However, yesterday, Justice Barr said he no longer had reason to believe that a fifth and undeclared garda bullet had been fired at Mr Carthy. He based his ruling on the most recent expert evidence from Professor John Harbison and Professor Christopher Milroy, both of whom ruled out the possibility of a fifth bullet after examining the jeans Mr Carthy was wearing when he was killed.

“I am satisfied that the evidence of both pathologists on January 15, particularly that of Professor Milroy, it is conclusive in ruling out the possibility previously expressed by them that there may have been an independent fifth bullet,” he said.

The chairman said he regretted that the most recent findings of the expert witnesses had not been known by the tribunal earlier.

“If counsel and I had been aware of it then, the difficulties which emerged that day would never have arisen,” he said.

Solicitor for the gardaí, Tom Murphy, was the only member of the garda legal team present for the statement. After the statement, he said he accepted the ruling, and thanked the chairman for resolving the issue.

But when asked by Justice Barr if the gardaí were resuming participation in the inquiry, Mr Murphy said he was withdrawing again for the day to consider outstanding issues his counsel have on the running of the tribunal.

It is thought, however, that the gardaí will return to the inquiry next Tuesday.