Mental health service - HSE cannot afford to ignore advice

There was no psychiatric expert available to the gardaí to advise on the best way to deal with a psychiatrically ill man when they were confronted by John Carthy, an armed manic-depressive, at Abbeylara in April 2000. They ended up shooting him dead.

In the wake of the 2007 Barr Tribunal report into the killing, the Garda Inspectorate published 84 recommendations. Most have been implemented, such as the establishment of trained garda units to deal with sieges and hostage taking. But the three main recommendations in relation to “formal arrangements for a team of mental health professionals” to assist gardaí in a crisis involving a mentally ill person, have yet to be implemented.

The inspectorate stressed that a clear memorandum should be concluded with the Health Service Executive (HSE) without further delay on the assignment of mental health professionals to support garda negotiators if needed in dealing with psychiatrically disturbed individuals. All concerned should make the formal arrangement without further delay, the inspectorate warned, because there is a real danger that the same mistakes could be repeated in the event of a similar incident.