11th April 2002

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Supreme Court Abbeylara Judgement `Disappointing'

Speaking following the judgement today that the Supreme Court has upheld the case taken by the Gardaí involved in the Abbeylara killing, Sinn Fein Chairperson Mitchel McLaughlin, who is the the Longford/ Roscommon constituency, said:

``This was a dissappointing and negative judgement. I am sure that the family of John Carthy are devastated and quite rightly so. There are serious questions to be answered particularly regarding why the Gardaí have gone to such serious lenghts to prevent the Dáil sub-committee from carrying out an inquiry.

``This judgement is likely to have far reaching consequences in terms of the establishment of future Dáil Committees of inquiries.

``We support the calls from the Carthy family for a public inquiry and the responsibility rests with the Minister for Justice now to bring this forward. Justice in this case must be done. Today's decission will make that task more difficult.

``At the end of the day we must remember that a young man has lost his life as a result of shots fired by members of the Gardaí. What this episode shows is the need for public scrutiny of the Gardaí and the need for a Garda Ombudsman.''

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