The sister of Mr John Carthy, who was shot dead by gardai outside his Co Longford home after a 25-hour siege in April, has made a renewed call for an independent inquiry into his killing.
Ms Marie Carthy said she did not wish to blame anyone for her brother's death or prejudge the outcome of the Garda investigation but insisted it was inadequate for the force to investigate itself.
She was speaking at the opening session of the annual general meeting of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties in Dublin on Saturday. She was critical of the fact that five FBI agents, who arrived last week to aid the investigation, had not contacted the family or other locals in Abbeylara. It is understood the FBI team returned to the US at the weekend. "I do not wish to blame anyone for what has happened or prejudge the outcome of the Garda investigation but I think it is inadequate that Garda investigates. In my opinion the FBI, who were called in to help investigate, should speak to my family and witnesses and not just the gardai.
"It is quite obvious that something went seriously wrong, and all questions should be answered. I wish to call for a searching, independent inquiry, the results of which should be made public to prevent something like this happening again," she said.
According to Ms Carthy (26), some media reports did not portray her brother in an accurate light. She said he suffered from depression but was "intelligent, witty, hard-working, popular, gentle, easy-going and well respected by everyone. He was always there when we needed him."
She said her brother mistrusted and feared the gardai after he was accused of burning an imitation goat mascot belonging to the local GAA club in 1998, but she stressed he had never hurt anyone. According to Ms Carthy, the incident of the burned mascot was a "fundamental issue", as was the fact that her brother's solicitor, Mr Michael Finucane, was not contacted during the siege.
"Also, why did John not receive cigarettes? John was a chain smoker, and these would obviously have helped him."
Ms Carthy said the Garda investigation team did not inform her until last Tuesday that her brother had tried to contact her on his mobile phone before he died. "I also think it is appalling the way in which I was treated by not being allowed to talk to John during the so-called siege."
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties said it was concerned that the Government would not release its guidelines for the use of lethal force in cases such as Abbeylara. The organisation added that it intended to raise the incident with the UN Commission for Human Rights in Geneva.