The internal Garda investigation into the death of Mr John Carthy in Abbeylara would not meet European human rights standards, the Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, has said.
The European Court of Human Rights last week awarded compensation to the families of IRA men killed by the British army during the 1980s, because the RUC inquiry into their deaths was inadequate.
In a landmark ruling the Strasbourg court refused to consider the legality or otherwise of the killings of eight IRA men at Loughgall and two other IRA men in the early 1980s.
But it found that the British government had violated Article 2 of the European Convention, because the investigation into their deaths lacked independence and sufficient public scrutiny.
"These findings have an immediate implication for investigation procedures in this State," Mr Quinn said yesterday, because they demanded changes in the way the Garda Siochana investigated itself.
He called on the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, to rethink his "arrogant refusal" to act on his party's proposals for an independent Garda ombudsman and a Garda authority.
"The court held that proper procedures for ensuring the accountability of agents of the State are indispensable in maintaining public confidence and in meeting the legitimate concerns arising from the use of lethal force. "It said that the obligation to protect the right to life requires by implication that there should be some form of effective official investigation when individuals have been killed in such circumstances," he said. In the Republic there was no provision for "practical independence" from the Garda in any investigation into a shooting carried out by the gardai themselves.
"Clearly the Garda investigation into the killing of John Carthy at Abbeylara does not fulfil [the court's] criteria," Mr Quinn said, adding that coroners operate under the same rules in the Republic as in Northern Ireland.
"If we are not to stand accused of hypocrisy, we are obliged to ensure that our own domestic laws comply with the requirements we insist on imposing on others.
"Minister O'Donoghue has treated Labour's proposals for reform with contempt so far. It is time he took his head out of the sand and responded in a proper manner."
"As regards the office of Director of Public Prosecutions, the European Court accepted that the Northern Irish DPP was an independent legal officer. "But they were critical of the fact that he is not required to give reasons for any decision not to prosecute and that no challenge by way of judicial review exists to require him to give reasons.
"This is identical to the practice of successive DPPs in this jurisdiction to refrain from giving reasons for decisions not to institute or proceed with criminal prosecutions, other than in the most general terms," Mr Quinn said.
