A failure to retract false claims made by former First Minister Ian Paisley about well-known Co Armagh man Eugene Reavey have been described as an ‘awful offence’ by Seamus Mallon.
Using parliamentary privilege in the House of Commons in 1999 the former DUP leader claimed that Mr Reavey was involved in the shooting dead of 10 Protestant men in Co Armagh in 1976.
The Kingsmills killings came during one of the bloodiest weeks of the Troubles in January 1976, and a day after two of Mr Reavey's brothers - John Martin (24) and Brian (22) - were shot dead by loyalists at their Whitecross home.
Another brother, Anthony (17), died several weeks later from his injuries.
That attack was carried out by the notorious Glenanne gang, which included members of the RUC, UDR and UVF.
In his new book Mr Mallon describes Mr Reavey as “one of my best friends and another example of a genuinely good man who has been through a living hell”.
In 2010 a police Historical Enquiries Team report said the claims were "totally inaccurate".
Before his death Mr Paisley repeatedly resisted calls to retract his remarks.
Mr Mallon believes Mr Paisley’s failure to retract was a “huge” wrong.
“For a man of the cloth to go to his grave without putting that right, I don’t want to be judgmental but it was an awful, in the true sense of the word, offence against the person,” he said.
In the book Mr Mallon details how Mr Ravey was “harassed horribly” by the security forces after the murder of his brothers.
