The officer in charge of armed gardaí at the scene of the siege in Abbeylara, Co Longford, that ended in the shooting dead of Mr John Carthy by gardaí has said that he did not tell two armed members that their orders had changed. Olivia Kelly reports.
The Barr Tribunal has heard that Det Sgt Aidan Foley had responsibility for informing armed local gardaí in position around Mr Carthy's house of their new orders following the arrival of the Emergency Response Unit.
Sgt Foley told the tribunal that he informed six of the armed gardaí surrounding the house the ERU had arrived and they were now back-up to the ERU. The armed members were to become an "outer cordon". They were to give the ERU room to manoeuvre and were to be "flexible".
However, he did not tell two members, Garda Gibbons and Sgt Garda Campbell, of their changed role.
"I do not recollect giving instructions to Garda Gibbons," Sgt Foley said.
He had not briefed Garda Campbell either, though he had seen him speaking to Supt Joseph Shelly. "I presumed he was aware of his instructions," he said.
Council for the Carthy family, Mr Michael O'Higgins, put it to Sgt Foley that none of the armed gardaí had mentioned the briefing in their statements to the tribunal and it was not included in Sgt Foley's own notes. Mr O'Higgins said he did not dispute the briefing had taken place, but it had been "so bare that it didn't merit inclusion".
"I would suggest that the jargon of inner and outer cordons was rationalised after the event," he said. Sgt Foley said this was not the case.
Sgt Foley also denied that he had any discussions with gardaí following the shooting on what measures were to be taken in the event of Mr Carthy leaving the house. Sgt Foley told the tribunal that if Mr Carthy emerged on to the road, "my actions would at all time be governed by John Carthy". This had not been an order, he said, but had been his own professional assessment.
The "same formula" of words had been used by other gardaí, including Garda Shane Nolan, in their evidence to the tribunal, Mr O'Higgins said. He asked had there been discussions with colleagues after the event, with a view to "mending their hand".
Sgt Foley said he had not been involved in any such discussions and had not read the statement of Garda Nolan. "I can't say why he used the same phraseology," he said.