Barr TribunalA British firearms expert and former senior police officer has identified "some significant failure of policy and practice" in relation to the Garda handling of the Abbeylara siege.
Opening a new phase of the inquiry, dealing with Garda training and operation strategies, Mr Raymond Comyn SC, for the tribunal, said it had received expert advice from a number of witnesses in the UK, North America and Australasia on how police internationally would handle a situation such as that which occurred in the Co Longford village in April 2000.
Mr Alan Bailey, a firearms consultant who served for 30 years with Thames Valley Police, has told the tribunal there were many issues relating to Abbeylara "that could not be considered good practice".
These included "the failure to have the assistance of a psychologist or the availability of a ballistic protected vehicle".
Citing "poor planning process", Mr Bailey is quoted as saying that "had the command process been more structured, there would have been less critical comment about the police operation in Abbeylara. While many of the command decision and actions at Abbeylara accorded with good practice, there was some significant failure of policy and practice."
The comments were cited in Mr Comyn's opening statement for the new phase of the tribunal.
In a separate development, counsel disclosed that details of training given to gardaí who were present at Abbeylara would be considered by the inquiry in private.
While a chief superintendent would give an "overview" of training and instruction provided to various ranks of the force, documents which had been disclosed to the tribunal on behalf of the Garda Commissioner last March, and which dealt with training given to senior officers and members of the Emergency Response Unit at Abbeylara "will be considered by the tribunal in private session so as to protect the confidentiality of those documents, and have regard for their sensitivity", Mr Comyn said.
Meanwhile, the tribunal heard yesterday of the "possibility" that Mr John Carthy, who was shot dead at the end of the 25-hour siege, had been hit by five rather than four bullets as previously thought.
The sole member, Mr Justice Barr, said an unexplained wound in Mr Carthy's right calf opened up the possibility of a fifth bullet. He said it would be useful to check the evidence of, and possibly recall, two local gardaí who were present, and armed, at the scene, as the evidence heard to date indicated one or other of them did possibly discharge a shot.
Mr Justice Barr was commenting following the evidence of the former state pathologist, Prof John Harbison, who could not be conclusive about what caused the wound, although he said "it may be a re-entry wound" caused by one of the four bullets identified as having come from ERU weapons.
Prof Christopher Milroy, a forensic pathologist who has been asked to give evidence to the tribunal by solicitors acting for Mr Carthy's family, has said the wound might represent a fifth, "possibly ricocheting bullet". However, in a statement disclosed by the tribunal yesterday, he said, "ultimately, the source of this fifth wound is likely to remain a matter of conjecture".
Prof Harbison restated his view, given at Mr Carthy's inquest, that the deceased was shot four times from behind by gardaí, with the fatal shot piercing his heart. He said the exit wound of the fatal shot was 9½ inches above the entry wound, which "can only be explained by the deceased bending, or falling forward, at the time he was struck by the bullet".
