Local reaction: Residents in the village of Abbeylara were yesterday only just beginning to absorb the details contained in the report into the shooting of local man John Carthy. They had been waiting for the Barr tribunal report to come out for over a year and news of yesterday's publication brought a sense of relief to the community.
It is six years since the 27-year-old was shot by gardaí following a 25-hour siege at his home just two minutes from the village centre. A plaque on the wall outside the rebuilt Carthy home, with a well-tended flower-bed beside it, commemorates the day he died. Neighbours either side of the bright yellow bungalow were reluctant to talk; one woman, close to tears, said that she just wanted to spend some time thinking about John.
The local parish priest, Fr Michael Campbell, broadly welcomed the tribunal's findings.
"The report is readable and understandable and it seems the truth is finally coming out," he said.
"John Carthy wasn't really helped, there was no real human consideration of the man."
He said that Mr Justice Barr didn't try to hide any lack of professionalism by gardaí.
"It is a relief that this report has been published. It is fairly clear what happened to John in those last few hours and we can let John rest in peace," he said.
A contemporary of Mr Carthy's, who played handball with him, said that there was still a sense that the family would not get proper justice.
"It's great that he [Mr Justice Barr] was critical of the gardaí. We were afraid it would be a complete whitewash, but it's hard to know where we go from here," he said. "This is not going to bring John back."
He said he was disappointed that the report did not conclude that Mr Carthy had been falling when the final shot was fired.
"We'll never know exactly what happened, like was John's gun loaded at all? I know gardaí say it was, but was it really?"
Another local disagreed with Minister for Justice Michael McDowell's comment that gardaí had only seconds to decide before they shot him.
"They had from Wednesday evening to decide what to do, so where were the seconds? And they put four shots into the man. Surely one was enough," he said.
"It's a relief that it's out at last but an innocent man's life is lost who didn't deserve this type of treatment. The people of Abbeylara haven't got over it because they knew him so well. We all miss him."