Marie Carthy has told the Barr Tribunal today that the Abbeylara siege would never have got out of control if the gardaí were trained to deal with depression.
John Rogers, Senior Council for the Government, questioned Marie Carthy and said she knew her brother was agitated prior to the shooting at Abbeylara.
He produced telephone call records, illustrating repeated calls to his sisters mobile over the weekend of April 15 and 16, 2000.
The records also included calls right into the early hours of April 17.
John Carthy's sister said she did speak with her brother before the siege began and that he was fine.
She told Mr Rogers that the nature of depression can change very quickly and if the gardaí were trained properly to deal with the illness we wouldn't be here today.