The Murder of Seamus Ludlow in County Louth, May 1976. Towards a public inquiry?
The Murder of Seamus Ludlow in County Louth, May 1976. Towards a public inquiry?
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Introduction to the murder of Seamus Ludlow and the official cover-up. Michael Cunningham investigation - 1978 The recent Campaign for Truth and Justice. Irish Victims Commission Report. Ludlow family's questions for the RUC (now the PSNI). Jim J. Kane's letter to the N I Human Rights Commission. Jim J. Kane's letter to the RUC Ludlow Family Letter to Bertie Ahern Other Ludlow Family Sites. |
An Phoblacht/Republican News, 4 November 1999: Taoiseach to "reassess'' Ludlow case The Dublin government is to reassess its approach to the case of murdered Louth man Seamus Ludlow in light of the failure of the Six-County Director of Public Prosecutions to prosecute four men arrested last year in connection with the killing. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern signalled the review of his government's approach when he answered a question from Sinn Féin TD Caoimhghín O Caoláin in the Dáil on Tuesday, 2 November. Seamus Ludlow was abducted and murdered by a group of loyalists, including two serving member of the British Army's Ulster Defence Regiment, in May 1976. The killing took place in County Louth. Up to last year, no-one was ever arrested in the case, even though an eyewitness had made a detailed statement to the RUC and the media. Four men were detained in 1998, but it was announced last month that there would be no prosecutions. The family of Seamus Ludlow maintain that they were kept in the dark for over 20 years by RUC and gardai and that gardai told them repeatedly that the assassins were the IRA, a claim they knew to be untrue. In the Report of the Victims Commission, established under the Good Friday Agreement, it was recommended that the Dublin government establish a private inquiry into the Ludlow case with no published report ``to avoid compromising any criminal prosecutions''. In the Dáil on Tuesday, Caoimhghín O Caoláin urged the Taoiseach to establish a public inquiry. He said: ``Will the Taoiseach raise with the British Prime Minister and Mr. Mandelson the disgraceful decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions in the Six Counties not to prosecute in the case of the four men implicated in the murder of Séamus Ludlow? In light of the failure to prosecute, will the Taoiseach revisit the decision to hold a private inquiry into the Ludlow case and will he acknowledge that, in line with the recommendations of the former Tánaiste, Mr. Wilson, the report of such an inquiry must be published in the absence of prosecutions? The argument for a public inquiry is now, due to the decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions, greatly strengthened.'' Replying to O Caoláin, Bertie Ahern said: ``When the former Tánaiste, Mr. Wilson, acting as commissioner, issued his report he said he believed the review should be in private at that stage. It is probably a fair assessment that he also believed the Director of Public Prosecutions was proceeding with the case. I am not certain of that but that is how I would have interpreted his remarks at the time. I have seen the statement by the Director of Public Prosecutions and we are examining the matter. I will raise it with the British Government again. As the Deputy knows, I have met the family and the people who have campaigned about this case over the last 20 years. We will reassess what to do next.''
I Homepage I I Top I I Press Coverage I I BIRW Report I I Irish Victims Commission Report I I Dundalk Bombing I The Irish News, 13 October 1999: Families call for inquiries into loyalist murders The Irish Times, 13 October 1999: Victims seek wider inquiry The Dundalk Democrat, 22 December 2001: Dundalk bomb victims' families still waiting on public inquiry The Dundalk Democrat, 26 January 2002: Blayney bombing to feature in new book
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