John O'Donoghue, Minister for Justice, has had another four working days to reflect on the issues arising from the killing of John Carthy. The Carthy family and the Garda representative associations want a judicial inquiry. The Minister remains silent, however. Why?
On Monday, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Equality and Women's Rights was obliged to suspend its hearings until June because of challenges mounted by Mr John Rogers SC, representing members of the Emergency Response Unit. Ever since, the number and complexity of questions have spiralled.
The more complicated they become, the less likely it is that the Carthy family, and people generally, will receive any satisfactory answers to the problems they've identified. In his own interest, the Minister must act now and set up a judicial inquiry.
The killing of John Carthy was not a simple affair. But justice delayed is justice denied - that truth transcends cliche. If the facts of the killing become enmeshed with resolving all the issues it provokes, then, in death, John Carthy is a hostage to fortune yet again.
Justice is being delayed. Other serious matters, ranging from the competence of Oireachtas committees to the credibility of Garda officers and their force, are now at stake too. Each has supporters and opponents, along with varying detailed agendas. Allowing for argument and counter-argument, the timescale for resolution could take years. John Carthy's grave has altered since he was buried last year. If you visit over time, you'll see how flowers mark the seasons he has missed. Home-grown dahlias in August; nursery-reared chrysanthemums in winter. A few weeks ago, someone left a bunch of daffodils. They shone in the rain. It is a little grave on which to pin the future of Garda accountability or the restructuring of powers for Dail committees. John Carthy's killing constructs a test case for such objectives. But the longer that takes, the more seasons pass and the more flowers fade away. Bureaucracy will triumph if the entire affair lasts for so long that we forget the death which started it. A young man suffering from manageable mental illness, in possession of a gun, left deprived of nicotine, surrounded by armed police and eventually shot four times. Everyone has opinions on what should or should not have happened. What process led to the ERU being assigned to a case involving a distressed man?
What tactical value can there possibly be in denying cigarettes to someone who doesn't know the rules of engagement in the first place? People can draw their own conclusions when senior Garda officers mention men like Brendan O'Donnell in the same breath as John Carthy. John Carthy took no hostages other than himself. John Carthy was not "one of them", in the sense of being the usual terrorist or armed criminal the ERU is trained to tackle. He was one of us, the ones the Garda was set up to protect. He was especially vulnerable. "Had you got a psychiatrist there?" I asked Supt John Farrelly of the Garda Press Office soon after the shooting. "Oh yes," he replied, declining to give details. I reported the bare fact. But the gardai in Abbeylara, who included Supt Farrelly, did not use the psychiatrist's skills. How the Garda now deals with public perception is a matter for the Commissioner and his staff. The Oireachtas committee can encourage them to understand more speedily the depth of people's concern about the way the event was managed. Many believe that self-scrutiny is no scrutiny, and that the Carthy killing must pave the way for an independent Garda authority, with proper complaints procedures. There are no opposing arguments, other than the foot-dragging that is starting to characterise this case. Better weapons training may make the ERU more effective; it won't justify their use in confronting men who are sick and tired.
Individual gardai are entitled to their civil rights and should not be scapegoated. But it is unsettling to hear arguments about preserving the anonymity of Irish policemen made in terms similar to those about British paratroopers in the Bloody Sunday Inquiry.
Senior gardai must realise by now that aspects of the conduct of Abbeylara are hard to justify. That does not mean they will admit so publicly. Policy and practice obviously need root-and-branch review, and the committee can make a difference in these areas.
Findings of fact appear beyond the committee's capacity to resolve. John O'Donoghue must address them. The most basic conflict is the contradictory evidence between the State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, and the Culligan Report, supported by the Garda Commissioner, about who was where when the shots were fired.
A judicial inquiry will resolve the question of whether John Carthy was falling when the fatal shot was fired. If he wishes, John O'Donoghue can appoint an investigating judge by next week. Why delay? The Abbeylara tragedy will be compounded if the facts of John Carthy's death become a pawn in the wider endgame about Garda accountability.
mruane@irish-times.ie