Barr tribunal: Gardaí made no attempt to inform the Carthy family that Mr John Carthy had asked for a solicitor at any time during the 25-hour siege at Abbeylara, the Barr tribunal has heard.
Mr Carthy asked to see a solicitor within six hours of the gardaí arriving at his house.
Garda negotiators made a number of failed attempts to get Mr Carthy to reveal the name of his solicitor but did not consider asking the family for their help in the matter.
Scene commander Supt Joseph Shelly told the tribunal that he did not know why he failed to talk to the Carthy family about the solicitor. "We didn't make the decision not to ask the family, it just didn't happen."
He added that the family could have told the gardaí the name of Mr Carthy's solicitor.
Mr Patrick Gageby, counsel for Ms Rose and Ms Marie Carthy, said there was "no logic" in Supt Shelly's reasoning.
"How were the family to know he wanted a solicitor when you never told them? I would suggest this is not good intelligence-gathering, Superintendent."
Supt Shelly said he gave no consideration to contacting any legal representative when Mr Carthy did not mention a specific solicitor. When asked if he was using Mr Carthy's request as a bargaining tool to get his gun, he admitted it was "an issue".
The Garda press officer, Supt John Farrelly, told the media that Mr Carthy's only request during the siege was for cigarettes, the tribunal heard.
Supt Farrelly was not told that Mr Carthy had asked for a solicitor, Supt Shelly said.
The chair of the tribunal, Judge Barr, put it to Supt Shelly that it might have been detrimental for Mr Carthy to hear this report on the radio.
"Was it not in your mind that Mr Carthy did not trust the guards? If he heard on the radio Supt Farrelly say that he had only asked for cigarettes, would that not undermine the rapport you were endeavouring to establish?"
Supt Shelly conceded that it "probably would have affected him in some way".
Meanwhile it emerged that members of the Emergency Response Unit returned to the Carthy home a number of days after the killing.
Mr Gageby asked Supt Shelly if he knew that members of the Carthy family found ERU officers, "wandering about the house" and apparently reconstructing events.
Supt Shelly said that he did, but attached no significance "good bad or indifferent" to the visit.
