BARR TRIBUNAL: In heated exchanges at the Barr Tribunal yesterday, a cousin of John Carthy said he was far from being a liar and repeated that the Garda chief negotiator had told him "we f***ed it up" after the fatal shooting.
Mr Thomas Walsh was cross-examined by Ms Margaret Nerney SC, for the gardaí, on his evidence that a few days after the shooting on April 20th, 2000, he met Insp Michael Jackson, then of the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) outside the Carthy house in Abbeylara, Co Longford.
Mr Walsh alleged Insp Jackson said to him: "Between you and me, we f***ed it up". He said it was said in confidence, man-to-man and that was the reason he had not mentioned it before July at the tribunal.
Ms Nerney said she had difficulty understanding how there was no mention of this profoundly important point at any stage until July.
Mr Walsh replied: "We could go back through the transcripts and see how many times I've answered and I'm not answering again. I've told you already. If you can't understand the testimony, I don't know, maybe you should sit down. I'm after explaining it to you and you can ask a question in so many ways and you can ask in so many more ways, but that's what he said."
Ms Nerney asked if he was honest. "Is that a roundabout way of calling me a liar?" Mr Walsh asked.
Ms Nerney said she had never mentioned the word liar. Ms Nerney said he had mentioned that word. "Look it, I'm far from a liar," Mr Walsh said.
Ms Nerney said Insp Jackson had been absolutely categoric in his evidence that he never said those words or any such words.
Ms Nerney asked if he was calling Insp Jackson a liar?
Mr Walsh replied: "He may have forgotten it. I'm telling you that he did say it. Go on and be as repetitive as you want."
The chairman, Mr Justice Barr asked him why he did not mention it in his memo to the Oireachtas committee. Mr Walsh replied: "He (Insp Jackson) was going to get the blame for it by saying 'we f***ed up'. I don't blame Michael Jackson for the death of John Carthy but he was going to get slayed for telling me that."