SEAMUS LUDLOW - Update Report from Michael Donegan on 25th Commemoration Ceremony held on April 29, 2001.

The commemoration was an enormous success - those in attendance demonstrated great solidarity and support that was evident at the memorial.

There were reporters from the local Dundalk Democrat. - Significantly, only the Irish News gave good coverage. And there was a wonderful report in Ireland on Sunday.

A large crowd was in attendance. Indeed, such was the size of the gathering that there was a large overspill onto the roadway in both directions, with many people having no sight at all of the event. The crowd was very patient and very supportive to all that was said. Michael Donegan and Jimmy Sharkey, relatives of Seamus Ludlow, both made comments to the gathering.

Various branches of the Ludlow family were introduced - all six of them - for the laying of wreaths. Wreaths were then laid by members of Justice for the Forgotten, representing the families of victims and survivors of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, and the Rooney and Watters families of Dundalk who lost husbands and fathers in the Dundalk bombing in December 1975.

(http://www.michael.donegan.care4free.net/dundalk_bombing/index.htm )

Wreaths were also laid by members of the family of Patrick Mohan who was killed by a Loyalist bomb in Castleblaney in 1976.

Aiden McAnespie's father and sister were present - as well as a son of Maura Drumm. Maura Drumm, the Vice President of Sinn Fein, was murdered while she was a patient in the Mater Hospital in Belfast in late 1976, and was actually shot by the same man who murdered Seamus Ludlow. And, the coincidence doesn't end there! Maura Drumm was actually born just a few miles up the road from where Seamus was shot. She grew up around Killeen, an area that straddles the border near Mountpleasant.

Ed Moloney then delivered a short address (see below). He was followed by Monsignor Murray, who travelled all the way from Cookstown just to be there. The Monsignor is of course always well received, not least because he is the Chairman of Relatives for Justice, the support group that assists many families like the Ludlows in highlighting the wrongs that have been perpetrated by the Brit state forces in all their guises in the Six Counties.

Some of the comments at the Commemoration attacked Bertie Ahern for failing to acknowledge the Ludlow Family's several requests for a meeting with him. The gardai and the RUC were castigated for their role in the cover-up, the smearing of Seamus Ludlow and the protection of his killers.

AGAIN - ASK THE AUTHORITIES TO BEGIN AN OPEN INQUIRY INTO SEAMUS LUDLOW'S MURDER - AND BEGIN NOW WITH YOUR LETTERS TO THE RUC, BERTIE AHERN, THE GARDAI, AND ANY AND ALL OTHER PERSONS WHO MIGHT MAKE THE MOVE TOWARDS JUSTICE FOR SEAMUS LUDLOW.

Below is Ed Moloney's comments at the Seamus Ludlow 25th Commemoration:

"SEAMUS LUDLOW

I WANT FIRST OF ALL TO THANK JIMMY, KEVIN AND MICHAEL FOR INVITING ME TO SPEAK HERE TO MARK THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF SEAMUS LUDLOW'S DEATH.

I DON'T NORMALLY MAKE PUBLIC SPEECHES ABOUT ARTICLES I AND OTHER JOURNALISTS HAVE WRITTEN BUT AFTER CAREFUL THOUGHT I CONCLUDED THAT IT WAS NECESSARY TO BREAK THAT RULE IN THE CASE OF SEAMUS LUDLOW.

AS WE ALL KNOW TWENTY-FIVE LONG YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE THAT DREADFUL NIGHT WHEN HE WAS SHOT AND DUMPED IN THIS SMALL LANEWAY BUT SEAMUS LUDLOW'S FAMILY ARE NO NEARER GETTING THE TRUTH AND JUSTICE THEY DESERVE THAN THEY WERE THEN.

WE DO HOWEVER KNOW A GREAT DEAL MORE ABOUT THE EVENTS OF THAT NIGHT NOW THAN EVER BEFORE.

WE KNOW THE NAME OF THE LOYALIST KILLER WHO PULLED THE TRIGGER; WE KNOW WHY HE WAS IN CO LOUTH THAT NIGHT AND WHO WAS WITH HIM;

WE KNOW THAT THE GARDAI KNEW ALL THIS NOT LONG AFTER SEAMUS LUDLOW WAS KILLED;

WE KNOW THAT THE RUC SPECIAL BRANCH HAD THIS INFORMATION AS WELL; AND WE KNOW THAT THE AUTHORITIES IN THIS STATE BEHAVED DISGRACEFULLY TO THE LUDLOW FAMILY.

WE KNOW THAT THEY LIED TO AND MISLED THE FAMILY ABOUT WHO KILLED THEIR BROTHER AND UNCLE.

WE KNOW THAT THEY CRUELLY, DELIBERATELY DIVIDED THE
LUDLOW'S, PITCHING SIBLING AGAINST SIBLING, COUSIN AGAINST COUSIN FOR THE BEST PART OF TWO DECADES, YEARS THAT CAN NEVER BE RECOVERED.

WE KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF SEAMUS LUDLOW'S DEATH TO SUSPECT THAT ALL THIS WAS DONE, ALL THESE LIES AND DECEPTIONS PERPETRATED IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE GUNMAN WHO KILLED SEAMUS LUDLOW AND TO COVER UP THE COVER UP BOTH IN THE NORTH AND IN THIS JURISDICTION.

WHAT MADE THIS MAN SO SPECIAL THAT FOR YEARS NO ACTION WAS TAKEN AGAINST HIM AND SO MANY LIES TOLD TO PROTECT HIM? WE KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED THAT NIGHT TO ASK THAT THE STATE SHOULD FORMALLY AND PUBLICLY THROW OPEN ITS SECRET FILES SO THAT AT LAST THE LUDLOW FAMILY CAN HAVE PEACE OF MIND.
EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK THESE DAYS THERE ARE PUBLIC TRIBUNALS AND JUDICIAL INQUIRIES MANY OF THEM DESIGNED TO LAY TO REST GHOSTS OF THE NORTHERN CONFLICT.

THE GOVERNMENT IN THIS JURISDICTION HAS BEEN TO THE FORE IN PRESSING THE BRITISH TO SWEEP THE SKELETONS OUT OF THEIR CUPBOARDS BUT WHAT ABOUT THEIR SKELETONS?

WHAT HAS THE LUDLOW FAMILY BEEN OFFERED?

A SECRET, PRIVATE INVESTIGATION WHOSE DELIBERATIONS, UNLIKE THOSE IN THE GUILDHALL OR IN DUBLIN CASTLE WILL BE KEPT FROM PUBLIC VIEW AND SCRUTINY AND WHOSE OUTCOME MAY OR MAY NOT BE FOLLOWED UP. AN INQUIRY INTO WHETHER THERE SHOULD BE AN INQUIRY IN OTHER WORDS.

HOW CAN IT BE RIGHT TO DEMAND FROM THE BRITISH THAT THEY COME CLEAN ABOUT THEIR MISDEEDS TOWARDS CITIZENS IN THE NORTH YET DENY THE SAME RIGHTS TO THEIR OWN CITIZENS?

WHY ARE THEY SO FRIGHTENED OF THE SECRET, HIDDEN STORY OF SEAMUS LUDLOW'S DEATH? IF, TRULY, THERE IS NOTHING TO HIDE, NOTHING TO BE ASHAMED OF, THEN COME OUT IN THE OPEN AND SHOW EVERYONE. ONLY THE GUILTY SKULK IN DARK CORNERS. THE INNOCENT

CRY OUT FOR THE LIGHT.

ITS TIME WE WERE TOLD THE TRUTH."

SUPPORT THE SEAMUS LUDLOW APPEAL FUND

Bank of Ireland
78 Clanbrassil Street
Dundalk
County Louth
Ireland
Account No. 70037984

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