Barr Tribunal: Mr John Carthy, the man at the centre of the Abbeylara siege, should not have had access to a firearm after he had allegedly made threats to kill people, a psychiatrist has told the Barr tribunal.
Dr John Sheehan, a consultant psychiatrist at the Mater Hospital in Dublin, who had not treated Mr Carthy, said he would not have sanctioned the 27-year-old having a gun.
Mr Carthy's bipolar disorder, combined with his misuse of alcohol and alleged homicidal threats, would have put him in a "high-risk category" for owning a firearm, he said.
"Given the information we have now, I wouldn't have recommended Mr Carthy having access to a firearm."
Dr Sheehan was referring to an incident that occurred in 1998, almost two years before the siege. Gardaí had confiscated Mr Carthy's gun after they had received allegations that he had threatened to shoot people.
Two months later, Mr Carthy's psychiatrist, Dr David Shanley, wrote to the superintendent at Granard Garda station to say that Mr Carthy was fit to use a firearm.
Dr Shanley has told the tribunal that Mr Carthy led him to believe the gun had been taken as part of a routine check.
It appeared that Mr Carthy had deceived Dr Shanley and as part of the risk assessment of returning the firearm, the psychiatrist should have been informed about the threats, Dr Sheehan said.
Mr Carthy's mental illness was not a reason in itself to prohibit his owning a firearm, but when the risk of potential violence had been identified and he was known to be abusing alcohol, the gun should not have been returned to him, he said. It was significant, he added, that Mr Carthy's GP, Dr Patrick Cullen, had refused to support him in his efforts to regain the gun, because he had the "local knowledge" that Dr Shanley lacked.
