RTE producer defends using Carthy's name in broadcast

Barr Tribunal: The RTÉ radio producer who made the decision to broadcast Mr John Carthy's name during the Abbeylara siege, said the head of the Garda Press Office, Supt John Farrelly, did nothing beyond a "groan" and a "grunt", to dissuade him from doing so.

Mr Niall O'Flynn, who reported from Abbeylara for RTÉ's Five Seven Live, said he offered Supt Farrelly an opportunity to object to the broadcast before the programme aired, but "he did not take it".

Supt Farrelly said in evidence that he made his objections known to Mr O'Flynn.

The RTÉ producer also told the tribunal he believed Mr Carthy lost his right to anonymity when he started firing shots at gardaí.

Mr O'Flynn, who was also the series producer and was responsible for the editorial decisions on Five Seven Live, said he had not thought the naming of Mr Carthy was a "big issue" and he could see "no good reason not to name him".

He had arrived at Abbeylara at around 11 a.m. on the second day of the siege. He agreed with his RTÉ colleague, crime correspondent Paul Reynolds, that he would interview local people while Mr Reynolds remained at the scene. Three of these "vox pops" were broadcast directly after an interview with Supt Farrelly during Five Seven Live that evening. Some 30 minutes later Mr Carthy left his house carrying a loaded gun and was shot dead by gardaí.

Approximately 10 minutes before Five Seven Live went to air Mr Reynolds told him that the RTÉ newsroom had not named Mr Carthy. This was the first time he became aware that Mr Carthy had not been named on news bulletins, but, he said, Mr Reynolds did not seem "unduly concerned" that he would be named on Five Seven Live.

A few minutes before Supt Farrelly was due to be interviewed by the programme's presenter, Myles Dungan, Mr O'Flynn told him Mr Carthy would be named. "[Supt Farrelly\] said nothing at all. There may have been a groan, there may have been a grunt, there was certainly a facial grimace, but that was as far as it went."

It would have been difficult to stop the broadcast at that stage, he said, but not impossible if Supt Farrelly had thought it a serious enough matter. By telling Supt Farrelly of the intention to name Mr Carthy, he was offering an opportunity to stop the broadcast. "If he felt it was serious enough to merit stopping the broadcast, I would have expected him to say so."

Supt Farrelly has told the tribunal that he did not ask Mr O'Flynn to stop the broadcast but he did object saying "You're not going to name him are you?" and was told by the producer that an editorial decision had already been made.

"I do not believe he said that," Mr O'Flynn told the tribunal.

He said his primary reason for naming Mr Carthy was that his name was already "widely known". Counsel for the tribunal, Mr Michael McGrath, asked did it not occur to him that Mr Carthy might have a radio and could have heard his name broadcast.

Mr O'Flynn said he didn't believe Mr Carthy was listening to Radio 1 as "loud music" had been heard coming from the house. However, he said, "I can't imagine being named on the radio would have caused him concern". He said he had not been aware of Mr Carthy's mental illness at the time and it was "undoubtedly" something he would have taken into account.

The producer defended his decision to broadcast the vox pops which included personal information about Mr Carthy. "John Carthy put himself at the centre of public events. In so doing he lost his anonymity," he said.

He also said that he was certain he had identified himself to everyone he interviewed.