The Minister for Justice will receive the Garda report into the Abbeylara shooting today, he told the Dail last night. Mr O'Donoghue, who condemned as "deplorable" the leaking of the report, said the file on the shooting dead of John Carthy by gardai would also go to the Director of Public Prosecutions and to the coroner in Longford.
The report by FBI officers into the "operational tactics employed in this case will be with the commissioner within the next week", he added. Mr O'Donoghue reiterated his commitment to make the findings of the investigation public "as soon as it will be possible and proper to do so".
He said the leaking of the report was a "very serious matter" which was "damaging to public confidence in the process of investigating the death of Mr Carthy, and must be a source of considerable distress to the family and friends of Mr Carthy".
He stressed that before making conclusions on further action, the first step was to allow the DPP the time he needed to examine the file. "It would be wrong to open the details of this to public debate before the DPP has had the opportunity of examining the papers."
He wanted to assure Mr Carthy's family that the consideration of the findings of the Garda and FBI reports would be carried out "openly and with scrupulous care" and "any lessons which can be learnt from this tragic event will be learnt".
The internal Garda report was completed earlier this week and a copy given to the Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, on Wednesday. Yesterday morning a part of the report was leaked to RTE, the second time that a selective and largely sympathetic part of it has made its way into the media.
In a brief statement yesterday, Mr Byrne said he appointed a senior officer last week to investigate allegations of leaks to the media following the shooting of Mr Carthy. "This investigation will encompass the current alleged leaks as reported in the media today," he said.
Details from the report broadcast yesterday repeat already stated information that Mr Carthy was hit from behind by a burst of fire from a rifle fired by one of the 12-member Emergency Response Unit.
This heavily armed unit was sent to the house in Abbeylara after Mr Carthy fired his shotgun at a Garda squad car which was called to the house by his family. The FBI investigators who were called on by the Garda have yet to report, but they are expected to criticise the fact that Mr Carthy was allowed to pass the armed cordon meant to contain him and walk towards unarmed officers, just before he was shot dead.
Fine Gael yesterday called on the Government to publish the report immediately. The party's spokesman on justice, Mr Jim Higgins, said: "Not alone is it important that the report be published in its full form, but it should be debated before the Dail adjourns tomorrow."
Meanwhile, the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors has joined in the criticism of the Prime Time programme broadcast on RTE on May 25th which pointed to a number of deficiencies in the Garda operation.
Prime Time drew particular attention to the fact that the Garda had apparently not made any effort to contact the solicitor after Mr Carthy had made repeated requests to do so. The Prime Time journalist, Mike Millotte, was filmed ringing directory inquiries and asking for the mobile telephone number of the solicitor, Mr Michael Finucane.
It took 25 seconds to contact him.
In an editorial in its magazine, Garda News, the AGSI said it had refused to participate with the programme which it accused of having an "agenda" and being a "hatchet job".
The programme-makers are standing over its contents.
