The Garda Commissioner has ordered an internal inquiry into Garda actions preceding the killing of six-year-old Deirdre O'Sullivan by her father in Clonmel, Co Tipperary.
Local gardai would not be drawn on the events prior to the incident in which the former schoolteacher, Mr Chris Crowley killed his daughter and then shot himself dead.
Mr Crowley abducted his daughter from their home in Co Cork in December 1999.
He had travelled to a number or locations including Wales before renting a house in Clonmel at the end of last year. He had been using an alias while back in Ireland.
It is understood the killings happened when local gardai acting on a request from gardai in Cork, where the investigation into Deirdre's abduction was centred, called to the house.
Mr Crowley was able to return to the house where he was holding his daughter and kill her and then himself.
The internal Garda investigation is expected to try and establish what happened in the chain of command preceding the incident in which local gardai apparently the house apparently unaware that there was a serious threat to the life of the child.
The investigation is also expected to try and ascertain if local gardai were made aware that Mr Crowley might be in possession of a shotgun.
Garda sources yesterday indicated that Mr Crowley had stolen a shotgun from the home of the caretaker at a school where he had worked in Fermoy, Co Cork, before his disappearance.
The investigation will also attempt to discover if Mr Crowley had help from others in the 22 months he had been on the run with his daughter.
The Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, has appointed Det Supt Martin Callinan to carry out the investigation. He has been involved in a number of high-profile investigations in recent times.
He was appointed to investigate claims about the alleged collusion of Northern Ireland security forces in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in May 1994.
He was also involved in the internal Garda investigation into corruption among gardai in Donegal; and in the investigations into alleged criminal negligence in the blood donor service over the issuing of infected blood.
In a statement yesterday the Garda Press Office said Det Supt Callinan would "examine and investigate all aspects and circumstances surrounding these tragic deaths".
The statement said the completed file would then be submitted to the coroner's office "so that an inquiry can be carried out by way of inquest". It would be inappropriate, the statement said, to discuss the matter any further.
The Garda investigation is likely, therefore, to take a similar form to the investigation into the killing of the Co Longford man, Mr John Carthy, who was shot dead at his home in Abbeylara in May last year after he confronted gardai with a loaded shotgun.
Garda sources yesterday said there were serious concerns about a possible breakdown in communication between the Garda divisions investigating the abduction of Deirdre Crowley.
It is not clear if the local gardai understood the level of threat against the child's life.
If they had, the sources said, they would not have approached the rented house in such an open fashion and would have waited to ensure the safety of the child.
The Fine Gael spokesman on justice, Mr Alan Shatter TD, called for the formation of a dedicated and specially trained Garda unit to trace missing persons and abducted children.
No one saw the violence beneath the surface: page 5
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