Barr report will intensify focus on garda procedure

THE inevitable focus on garda procedure that will follow the tragic events in Carlow will intensify later this month if, as expected, the Barr report is published.

Mr Justice Robert Barr chaired the inquiry into the fatal shooting by gardaí in 2000 of 27-year-old Longford native John Carthy.

Mr Carthy, a manic depressive, had locked himself into the family home in Abbeylara, where he was armed with a shotgun.

The Garda Emergency Response Unit (ERU) was called in and a 25-hour stand-off ensued. Officers attempted to engage him in dialogue, but failed to provide him with cigarettes or a solicitor as requested.

During the siege, Carthy fired 30 bullets, sometimes toward officers, and repeatedly shouted abuse at them. As the siege entered its second day, Carthy emerged from the house, ignored orders to drop his weapon and was shot four times by two ERU members.

A year later, after the inquest and internal garda investigation, an Oireachtas sub-committee began public hearings on the events.

But 36 gardaí took a legal challenge to the sub-committee’s authority and, in November 2001, the High Court ruled it had acted beyond its powers in holding the inquiry. When the Supreme Court upheld that decision, then Justice Minister John O’Donoghue decided a full public inquiry was necessary.

Mr Justice Barr was appointed to the tribunal in April 2002. It got under way in early 2003, and finished sitting on December 7 last year. Some 169 witnesses gave evidence.

Mr Justice Barr had expected to deliver his report to the Oireachtas in June, but this was pushed back because of the volume of work involved.

The report is expected to criticise some aspects of garda handling of events at Abbeylara.

That being the case, gardaí would almost certainly dispute key points, for the inquiry was marked by many heated exchanges between Mr Justice Barr and counsel for officers involved in the siege, John Rogers.

At one point, Mr Rogers accused Mr Justice Barr of bullying witnesses and of treating him with disdain and contempt. Mr Justice Barr rejected this.

Should there be recommendations in his report, they will almost certainly prove contentious to gardaí.