Garda Síochána
The Barr tribunal also recommended a formal working arrangement between Gardaí and State psychologists, and improvements in Garda training (especially for the ERU in siege situations, including those with mental illness as a factor). This included a recommendation that local Garda superintendents undergo refresher training for one week every year as scene commanders and a similar refresher course for ERU officers of the rank of inspector or superintendent. Garda Commissioner Conroy, in a letter to the family of John Carthy, stated that the force was 'truly apologetic' for his death. Former Superintendent Joe Shelley, whose failure to interview John Carthy was cited in the Barr Tribunal Report as "extraordinary", and who was also severely criticised in the Report of the Morris Tribunal into the controversial death of Richie Barron, was awarded a top-up bonus of €110,000 when he took early retirement in July 2005. Mr Justice Morris described Shelley's probe as "prejudiced, tendentious, utterly negligent in the highest degree".