The sister of the late Mr John Carthy, who was shot dead by gardaí at Abbeylara, Co Longford, in April 2000, has denied she was under the influence of alcohol the night the armed stand-off began.
Ms Maire Carthy told the Barr tribunal that she had pleaded to be allowed speak to her brother when she arrived at Abbeylara from her home in Galway, but gardaí had refused to let her down to the scene.
The tribunal is investigating the events surrounding the killing of Mr Carthy by armed gardaí on April 20th, 2000.
Counsel for the tribunal, Mr Michael McGrath, put it to Ms Carthy that Det Garda Jim Campbell had given evidence that she could not be allowed to speak to her brother because she was under the influence of drink.
This was not true, Ms Carthy said.
She told the tribunal that she and a friend, Mr Martin Shelly had arrived at Abbeylara at around 11 p.m., within six hours of the start of the siege. After spending some time speaking to gardaí at the scene, they went to Devine's house in the village of Abbeylara, where they were to spend the night.
Shortly before 2 a.m. gardaí called to Devine's and asked Ms Carthy and Mr Shelly to return to the scene, where Mr Shelly was permitted to speak to Mr Carthy she said.
"We had been out in the cold for a few hours before we went to Devine's and Mrs Devine made us a hot whiskey. If they're saying I was under the influence, well Martin had a hot whiskey too and yet they didn't think he was under the influence and they let him down to John."
When asked if any garda had said to her that she could not be allowed to approach her brother because she had drink taken, she said they had not.
"That was never said to me. I practically begged them to let me go down because I knew that he would listen to me, but they just pushed me out of the way."
When asked why she thought Mr Shelly got no response when he tried to speak to John, she said: "I suppose John was upset because he would have wanted to talk to me."
Ms Carthy did not get to speak to her brother at any time during the 25-hour siege. She told the tribunal that gardaí had said they would try to arrange it, "but they didn't bother".
She also said that at no stage did gardaí inform her that her brother had requested a solicitor.
Ms Carthy told the tribunal about the close relationship she had with her brother and that they would speak to each other on the phone once or twice every day.
Two weeks before the siege, Mr Carthy had asked his sister to make an appointment for him with his Dublin-based psychiatrist, Dr David Shanley. Mr Carthy was scheduled to see the doctor the day he was killed.
Ms Carthy said her brother had always been very careful about taking his medication for depression and never missed a dose. He had not suffered from depression until their father's death in 1990. Mr Carthy was killed on the 10th anniversary of his father's death.
