Garda Commissioner promises facts of Carthy death will be made public

The Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, yesterday promised that the full facts surrounding the recent shooting to death of Mr John Carthy following a siege would be made public after completion of an internal Garda inquiry into the matter.

Mr Carthy died after he was shot by members of the Emergency Response Unit outside his home at Abbeylara in Co Longford on April 20th, and Mr Byrne said he was anxious that the facts surrounding the incident be made public.

Mr Carthy (27) was fatally wounded after he emerged from his family home armed with a shotgun following a 25-hour standoff, apparently ignored Garda warnings to drop the weapon and continued walking towards the officers.

Earlier this week Mr Carthy's sister, Marie, and her family called for an independent inquiry into their brother's shooting, while Fine Gael's spokesman on justice, Mr Jim Higgins, has called for the internal Garda inquiry to be made public.

Yesterday Mr Byrne promised that no efforts would be made to hide any of the findings made by Chief Supt Adrian Culligan of Cork city and his team of investigators appointed to look into Mr Carthy's death.

"I think we would all be very wise to await the outcome of the investigation . . . I would love to come out and give my view in relation to what happened, which might be more factual than what some people are suggesting," he said.

"But I can't do that because I've a responsibility to the inquiry team and the family involved, and we've got to await the outcome. I'm very anxious that all the facts and circumstances of this tragic occurrence come into the public arena.

"We're not going to hide anything. I want to get that across. I can assure you the facts of what happened will come into the public arena," said Mr Byrne. He refused, however, to confirm if the facts would be made public through Mr Carthy's inquest.

The Garda Commissioner said that while gardai did not usually make their internal inquiries public, the circumstances surrounding Mr Carthy's death were exceptional. "It's an exceptional case. Nobody would have wanted this outcome."

But Mr Byrne said he did not believe that the tragedy would damage public confidence in the Garda, or damage its reputation.

"I think people when they see all the facts may express surprise at some of the comments made recently about the incident. I'm not going to be judgmental. I'm going to wait until I hear the facts and I hope everybody else will wait until then as well," he said.