This week, 14 years ago, (3 November 2005) the Interim Report of the Independent Commission of Inquiry into the murder of Seamus Ludlow was published. The following March 2006 the final report by the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence & Women’s Rights was published.
That report recommended that the government establish two Commissions of Investigation into the Murder of Seamus Ludlow. The government has refused. The family took their case to the High Court seeking a Judicial Review of the Minister’s decision which they lost. Their appeal will be heard in the New Year.
Sinn Féin Louth TD Gerry Adams today called again on the Government to establish the two Commissions of Investigation recommended by the Final Report on the Independent Commission of Inquiry into the Murder of Seamus Ludlow.
Gerry Adams said:
“The family of Seamus Ludlow have been campaigning for truth about his murder for over 40 years. They have been frustrated in this by the British government and its state agencies who colluded in the murder. They have also been blocked by the failure of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael led governments that have refused to honour the recommendations of the Barron report and the Joint Oireachtas Committee.
“Seamus Ludlow was shot dead by a UVF/Red Hand Commando/UDR (Ulster Defence Regiment) gang in May 1976. He was aged 47. His body was thrown into a ditch near his Thistle Cross, Dundalk home.
“In 1979 the RUC identified four suspects it believed were responsible for the killing. Nineteen years later, in February 1998, the four were finally arrested. Two confessed to killing Seamus Ludlow during interviews with the RUC. They were released without charge. The North’s then Director of Public Prosecutions decided in 1999 not to prosecute the four. Among the four men were two serving officers in the Ulster Defence Regiment.
“The Gardaí never interviewed the four men and never told the family. The first the family heard of the four suspects was in a newspaper report.
“The Ludlow family earlier this year went to the Belfast High Court and successfully challenged the decision not to prosecute and the failure to provide reasons for this.
“The Irish government should now move to establish the two outstanding Commissions of Investigation – which it has thus far refused to do – which were recommended by the Final Report on the Independent Commission of Inquiry into the Murder of Seamus Ludlow by the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence & Women’s Rights in March 2006. That report expressed its ‘disappointment at the lack of co-operation from the British authorities … the role collusion played in the murder of Seamus Ludlow’.”
Note to Editor:
The Sub-Committee recommends that a commission of investigation be established to investigate the following:
– Whether the evidence collected at the scene of the murder of Seamus Ludlow in 1976 was available in 1979 and if not, why not?
– Why were credible leads given to the Gardaí by the Northern Ireland police force not followed up?
– Why were the four named suspects not interviewed?
– Was there a policy in existence not to interview suspects in Northern Ireland for crimes committed in this jurisdiction?
– Was a decision taken not to actively pursue the investigation of the murder of Seamus Ludlow and if so, who took that decision and why?
The Sub-Committee recommends that a commission of investigation be established to investigate the following:
– What documents were created or maintained by An Garda Siochana including security intelligence C3 Section in relation to the murder of Seamus Ludlow?
– Where are those documents?
– If those documents are not available for inspection what is the reason for this?
– What documents were created or maintained by the Department of Justice (and Departments of An Taoiseach, Foreign Affairs and Defence, in respectof the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Security), in relation to the murder of Seamus Ludlow?
– Where are those documents?
– If those documents are not available for inspection what is the reason for this?
