Carthy sacked day before siege

Barr Tribunal: Mr John Carthy, the man at the centre of the Abbeylara siege, was sacked from his job the day before he barricaded himself into his house with a loaded gun, the Barr tribunal has heard.

Mr Carthy was shot dead by members of the Garda Emergency Response Unit outside his Co Longford home in April 2000.

In the weeks leading up to his death, Mr Carthy had been working for a plasterer, Mr Gerry Delaney, at a building site in Longford town. On Tuesday, April 18th, the day before the siege began, Mr Carthy turned up for work as normal and at 1 p.m. went for two pints with a workmate, Mr Kieran Lennon, during lunch.

At 2.30 p.m., Mr Carthy left the site again, telling Mr Lennon he was going to use the toilets at the shopping centre. He returned half an hour later and said he was going to go back to the pub.

"He said to me to tell Gerry he wouldn't be back to work," Mr Lennon told the tribunal.

However, Mr Carthy did return to the site an hour later and was confronted by Mr Delaney, who asked why he had been off site. Mr Carthy said he had gone to have his dinner and when asked why he did not have his meal at lunch-time, he told Mr Delany he had been drinking.

"Gerry said that it wasn't on and he told John that he'd have to finish up at the end of the day, but John said that he'd finish now and that he might as well go off to the bookies."

Asked if Mr Carthy had been upset by the sacking, Mr Lennon said he didn't think so as the job was due to finish at the end of the week.

Earlier, an unarmed Garda told the tribunal that he had heard Mr Carthy taunting gardaí when he emerged from his house armed with a shotgun.

Garda Michael Carthy said he heard Mr Carthy shout, "come on ye bastards" as he stood at the gable end of his house.