Garda ‘left open to repeating’ Abbeylara

THE Garda Síochána is leaving itself “open to repeating” the Abbeylara tragedy by not having formal mental health expertise available to it to deal with barricade incidents.

An armed man, John Carthy, who suffered from manic depression, was shot dead by gardaí during a siege at Abbeylara, Co Longford, in April 2000.

A report by the Garda Inspectorate on Wednesday found that key, and urgent, recommendations it made in a February 2007 report, based on the Barr Tribunal into Abbeylara, had still not been implemented, despite a deadline of June 2008.