An unarmed garda who was at the scene in Abbeylara, Co Longford, when John Carthy was shot dead by gardaí, told the Barr tribunal that he not been trained to deal with situations involving firearms.
Garda Colin White, one of several unarmed uniformed gardaí at the scene, said that he had no training in the procedures relating to the use of firearms.
Counsel for the Garda Commissioner, Mr Cian Ferriter, asked Garda White if he had been trained in what action to take if a firearm was discharged in his presence.
"Did you have any training for that situation? Were you trained to take cover?" He replied: "At that time, I hadn't been, no."
Mr Carthy was shot dead by gardaí at approximately 5.45 p.m. on April 20th, 2000, when he emerged from his house armed with a loaded shotgun following a 25-hour siege.
Garda White said he had been given no instructions what to do if Mr Carthy emerged armed from the house and he was not aware what instructions the armed ERU members had been given to deal with such an event.
He added that he did not think the scene commander, Supt Joseph Shelly, knew he was at the scene. Garda White was one of the first gardaí called to Abbeylara the previous evening when Mr Carthy began firing shots outside his house.
He told the tribunal that he attended the Walshe's house, where Ms Rose Carthy had gone on the instruction of her son, with Garda John Gibbons. Ms Carthy and the other women in the house were "huddled together and "appeared fearful and upset", he said.
