The tribunal of inquiry into the fatal shooting of Mr John Carthy at Abbeylara, Co Longford, in 2000 will begin public sittings in Dublin today.
Mr Carthy was shot dead by the Garda Emergency Response Unit (ERU) on April 20th three years ago as he walked from his home carrying a shotgun following an overnight stand-off with gardaí.
The inquiry was opened formally in January when its chairman, Mr Justice Barr, made an opening statement. He said the inquiry would have six modules:
o the background to the fatal shooting
o the circumstances surrounding it
o the response of the ERU; the cause of Mr Carthy's death
o how the police in other jurisdictions deal with such situations
o a review of statute law regarding gun licences and police training.
Mr Justice Barr said the tribunal had received more than 200 witness statements and medical reports.
The first module beginning today will be the background to the shooting. Among the issues to be examined will be Mr Carthy's personal history, including his state of health and psychiatric condition, his family circumstances and work history, and his history as to the ownership and use of firearms.
The tribunal will also examine complaints made to local gardaí about Mr Carthy's possession of a firearm and alleged threats made by him, his detention and questioning by local gardaí in September 1998 and the effect of this detention on his attitude to the Garda.
In the second module, relating to the circumstances surrounding the shooting, the tribunal will examine what gave rise to the event, and specifically to a request for police intervention at his home.
Mr Justice Barr in his statement said the tribunal would also seek to establish who was in overall Garda command at Abbeylara and whether that person or any officer at the scene "had any particular instructions or training in dealing with an apparently dangerous man armed with a loaded shotgun who was not engaged in serious criminal activity per se, but was a person whose behaviour was likely to be the product of mental or psychiatric illness or other such disability".
The history and operation of the ERU, the situation regarding police training, the law on gun licences and the right of citizens to possess and use firearms will be investigated in later modules.
The Barr tribunal was set up following a Supreme Court ruling in April last year that the joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Women's Rights could not conduct an inquiry into the events.