An RTÉ radio producer who made the decision to name John Carthy during the siege in Abbeylara has told the inquiry into the shooting that if the media had not been present at the incident the full story might never have emerged.
Niall O'Flynn told counsel for the Emergency Response Unit negotiator and over 30 other gardaí that her clients had shot dead a sick man, and now four years later what she wanted to do was to shoot the messenger.
Mr O'Flynn said the garda negotiator and his colleagues knew that John Carthy suffered from mental illness and he did not.
He said they also had critical information from the Carthy family which they chose to withhold - not only from him but even from the Garda Press Office.
Earlier, Mr Justice Robert Barr said he was not surprised that the head of the Garda Press Office did not pass on intimate details to the media of the 27-year-old manic depressive's relationship with his girlfriend.
Judge Barr said it would be most extraordinary for that information to be divulged to reporters and there was no evidence that it did happen.
He said the tribunal would continue to examine whether or not a request had been made to RTÉ by the Garda Press Office that Mr Carthy would not be named on radio.
The chairman said he would also inquire whether it could be reasonably assumed that if a request was made to one senior person in RTÉ it would be passed on to others.
Mr Justice Barr was responding to an objection by counsel for RTÉ to the cross-examination of Mr O'Flynn this morning.
The chairman said he would continue to ask the question whether it was wise to publicise intimate personal details about Mr Carthy without checking the material first with the gardaí.
