Dungan was first to broadcast name

Five-Seven Live presenter Myles Dungan named Mr John Carthy as the person involved in the Abbeylara Garda siege during the programme…

Five-Seven Live presenter Myles Dungan named Mr John Carthy as the person involved in the Abbeylara Garda siege during the programme on April 20th, 2000.

In an interview with the Garda Press Officer, Supt John Farrelly, Dungan asked: "What do we know about the man John Carthy?" This was the first time Mr Carthy's name had been broadcast during the 25-hour siege.

Niall O'Flynn, who was reporting from the scene for the programme, interviewed Ms Mary McDowell, a Longford woman described as a friend of Mr Carthy. He asked her if she had a message for Mr Carthy. She replied: "Come out, everybody loves you, everybody's thinking about you and worrying about you and you are a good friend and you've lots of friends."

Asked if Mr Carthy had any problems in life, Ms McDowell said: "No, he was always laughing and joking." She added: "He was going out with a girl in Mayo. He split up from the girl because he smokes and he has a drink and the girl says if he packed in the drink and he packed in the smoking they'd get back together again."

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The interviews were broadcast between 5.05 p.m. and 5.15 p.m. Mr Carthy left his house at 5.45 p.m.

Olivia Kelly

Olivia Kelly

Olivia Kelly is Dublin Editor of The Irish Times