The Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, said yesterday he felt it was fully appropriate for his officers to have called the Garda Emergency Response Unit to the Abbeylara siege.
The decision was a spontaneous one taken by gardai at the scene. "It wouldn't necessarily be a requirement that I would be informed that the ERU unit had been deployed", he said.
The Commissioner, who was giving evidence to an Oireachtas sub-committee inquiry into the shooting last year in Abbeylara, Co Longford, of Mr John Carthy (27), said that the incident had a tragic conclusion.
Questioned by sub-committee member Mr Brendan Howlin TD about the Garda report into the incident, which had portrayed Mr Carthy as a poor mixer, a drinker and a gambler, the Commissioner said he stood over these comments, which had been deduced from statements.
"I don't think we should in any way frame a report so that it would be more satisfactory from a public consumption point of view than telling it as it is. Some people may not agree with the report, but I would prefer to be criticised for what's in it rather than for what's not in it", he said.
However, Mr Byrne said a reference in the report that Mr Carthy's "alleged prowess as a handballer" had been "overstated" might not, with hindsight, be included in the report if it was being compiled again.
He rejected suggestions by Mr Howlin that statements taken from gardai were treated at face value while statements taken from witnesses were evaluated and in some instances commented on in the Garda report. There was, Mr Howlin said, a reference in the report to the statement made by Mrs Rose Carthy, the mother of the deceased man, and it was stated that gardai felt she had not told the full story. Mr Byrne said he did not accept this.
The Commissioner was also asked about the visit of three ERU members to the scene of the shooting days after the siege and why no reference had been made to this in the Garda report. Mr Byrne said that this had not been brought to his attention, or to the attention of Chief Supt Adrian Culligan, who had conducted the internal Garda investigation. However, he was not surprised that gardai had visited the scene days afterwards.
Mr Byrne was also asked if it was satisfactory that the officers directly involved at the end of the siege were among the last to be interviewed by the investigating team. He replied that the order in which statements were taken did not matter as long as the facts were established.
Questioned further, he said he did not accept that gardai were in the wrong place when Mr Carthy emerged from his house at the end of the 25-hour siege. However, he agreed that Mr Carthy's emergence took "everybody" by surprise.
The Commissioner said the fact that the ERU's tactical commander, Det-Sgt Gerard Russell, was on a break when Mr Carthy emerged from the house was not an issue in the shooting. Det-Sgt Russell had been in the Carthys' new house just metres away.
Earlier, in a brief opening statement, the Commissioner said that the Garda received its first report of an incident in Abbeylara at 5.25 p.m. on April 19th last year. A siege situation developed and this had resulted in Mr Carthy being shot dead by gardai. "It was a tragic conclusion which nobody wanted, tragic for the family and also tragic and traumatic for the Garda Siochana. We regret it happened and on behalf of the Garda Siochana I would like to extend my sympathy to the Carthy family."
He said he had directed Chief Supt Culligan to carry out a comprehensive investigation. Approximately 220 statements had been taken. These were given to the coroner and a file was sent to the DPP, who had advised that no charges should be preferred.
The Commissioner said that he had sent an outline of the report to the Minister for Justice, with conclusions and recommendations attached.