Ireland

Murdered Seamus Ludlow's family take justice campaign to Dail

Relatives of Seamus Ludlow outside Leinster House in Dublin, and Fianna Fail justice spokesman Niall Collins (front row second right), as they have taken their campaign for justice to the Dail. Picture by KRW Law, PA Wire  
Relatives of Seamus Ludlow outside Leinster House in Dublin, and Fianna Fail justice spokesman Niall Collins (front row second right), as they have taken their campaign for justice to the Dail. Picture by KRW Law, PA Wire  

THE family of a forestry worker murdered in the Republic almost 40 years ago have taken their campaign for justice to the Dail.

Relatives of Seamus Ludlow have already launched a legal action against authorities in Northern Ireland for alleged collusion.

They are also demanding the Irish government establish an inquiry into his death, as recommended following a judge-led investigation a decade ago.

Relatives highlighted their campaign to Fianna Fail representatives on their visit to Leinster House in Dublin.

A parliamentary committee in Dublin recommended a state inquiry be held into the murder after the judge-led Barron report damned the original Garda investigation. It found the Royal Ulster Constabulary told the Garda in 1979 that it believed four named loyalists were involved in Mr Ludlow's killing, but the information was not pursued by the Garda at the time.

No one has ever been charged with the murder of unmarried Mr Ludlow, who was 47 and lived at Thistle Cross near Dundalk.

He was shot dead on May 2, 1976 as he went home from a night out.

The Barron report found he had no connections with any subversive organisation.

However, after his killing, members of the Garda wrongly told the Ludlow family that he had been shot by the IRA as an informer.

The report said it was undisputed that two of the suspects in the murder were members of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).

The family believe their civil proceedings in Belfast against the PSNI, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Northern Ireland's Secretary of State will force the disclosure of crucial evidence about the killing.

After Thursday's visit to Leinster House, the family issued a statement: "Our determination for this struggle is far from waning. It is undiminished by the years of lies, cover-up and false hopes, and is strengthened now by the involvement and commitment of our younger generations who are also burning for a final positive conclusion after four decades of despair.

"Nobody is being held to account and nobody in either government appears to care. The many years of state and political indifference have not quenched our family's desire for a final just conclusion for an innocent victim, and his remaining siblings, who have been treated disgracefully will not rest until that just conclusion is realised.

"As a family we stand here today no longer going to sit back and wait for politicians to deliver us nothing."