The first 17 pages of the Garda report on the killing of John Carthy amount to a detailed examination of Mr Carthy's character. The narrative includes descriptions of his medical history and treatment for depression, his mood swings, drinking, erratic behaviour and alleged verbal threats to a number of people.
The report also questions the credibility of evidence given to detectives by family and friends. It repeats the claims, raised by gardai at the inquest last month, that Mr Carthy's sister had "drink taken" when she arrived at the siege scene to attempt to talk to her brother. Ms Carthy denies this.
The report contains very detailed records of telephone calls made by Mr Carthy to his sister before the siege. Particular reference is made to the 42 calls he made to his sister on the Sunday before the siege, four days before he was killed. The inference to be drawn from this is not clear.
There is no criticism of the Garda decision to reissue Mr Carthy with his shotgun after it had been confiscated following an incident in August 1998 when he had allegedly threatened to shoot a local man after a dispute. Instead, the report lays the blame for the reissuing of the shotgun on Mr Carthy's family and friends.
The gun was reissued in November 1998 after Mr Carthy supplied the Garda in Longford with letters from his mother and his doctor that he was fit to own a shotgun. The report says there was "no legal justification" for withholding the firearms licence.
On the issue of "non-lethal" weapons, the report points out that the shotgun cartridges fired from Mr Carthy's gun - which were described in some reports as birdshot - are in fact a great danger to life. The shot is judged to be lethal to humans at up to 184 metres. At the time he was shot Mr Carthy was around 11.5 metres away from unarmed gardai.
Mr Carthy had already fired 30 shots during the siege and continually aimed his gun at gardai, causing them to duck for cover. He appeared to derive pleasure from this, the report states. He was also known to be a good shot. When he emerged from the house on to the road he broke his gun and ejected a cartridge from the right barrel and then cocked it again.
Ballistic tests showed that the left barrel, in which there was a live cartridge, gave a more accurate shot than the right, and Mr Carthy knew this.
The gardai at the scene repeatedly called on him to drop his gun and shot him when he continued to ignore them and kept moving towards the group of unarmed gardai.
It was known that Mr Carthy was taking medication, including tricyclic anti-depressants which are prescribed for patients suffering from depression, anxiety and panic disorders.
It is recommended that patients do not smoke or drink alcohol when taking Xanax, as they can add to the drug's sedative effects. Mr Carthy asked for cigarettes on a number of occasions. Gardai at the scene said it was not possible to deliver the cigarettes safely. The report finds there was no fault on the part of the Garda on this issue.
The decision to call in the FBI to investigate the events at Abbeylara was made shortly after Mr Carthy's death, apparently due to the Garda's training arrangement with the bureau at its headquarters in Quantico, Virginia. However, the FBI itself has faced severe criticism for its handling of sieges, in particular, the 51-day siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, in 1994, in which 75 people died.
Hearings into that siege showed the FBI had pumped CS gas into the compound buildings for 48 hours despite the presence of children inside. They al so cut off electricity, forcing cult members to rely on candles and fueloil lanterns.
This posed a serious fire threat. It was learned afterwards that there were bales of hay lining the corridors as a defensive bulwark. The compound buildings went on fire subsequently, causing the deaths of 75 of the 84 people inside the building.
The FBI used "pressure strategy" to wear the cult members down and make them surrender. This included shutting off the compound's power, training searchlights on the compound all night and playing constant loud noise. Since Waco, the FBI's role in sieges has been greatly reduced, and the bureau plays almost no role in urban areas where all large police forces have their own negotiators and SWAT teams.
The FBI agents at Waco had been on continuous duty for more than seven weeks. There is no mention in the Abbeylara report of what rest the gardai at the scene had once they arrived there. Some would have been on continuous duty for more than two days.
The Garda report on Abbeylara makes a point of trying to rebut criticism of its actions by the media. A report in The Irish Times, which also appeared in the Longford Leader, that seven out of nine ERU members had failed an Army marksmanship course, is described as untruthful. Army sources, however, have confirmed the report was accurate.
The issue of the Garda's seeming inability to contact a solicitor asked for by Mr Carthy is also touched on in the report. It appears gardai rang directory inquiries but made no inquiries with the Incorporated Law Society which has a list of all solicitors.
Reference is also made to the RTE Prime Time investigation into the killing in which a reporter displayed how it took only a matter of seconds to contact the solicitor by asking for his mobile telephone number. The report states that directory inquiries quoted only two numbers listed under the name of Michael Finucane, neither of which made reference to his profession.
There is no comment in the report on the Garda's own public relations conduct at the scene. At one point the Garda facilitated television cameras in showing the scene outside the house. Friends and relatives of Mr Carthy say the television pictures showing heavily armed gardai in black combat uniform and body armour must have added to Mr Carthy's anxiety.
The Garda report points out that the TV cable to the Carthy home had been cut but local people say the TV could still pick up RTE pictures and Mr Carthy could well have seen live pictures of the siege. He would also have heard reports on radio.
Despite its apparent sensitivity about the media's publishing the names of the ERU members who shot Mr Carthy, the report lists all nine members of the unit at the scene and gives their training histories.