The Irish Examiner reports Irish Foreign Affairs minister will raise issue of Seamus Ludlow's murder with British minister

10/09/05

Ahern to raise issue of Ludlow murder

By John Breslin
A THREE-decade-old loyalist murder and questions over the failure to bring prosecutions will be raised with the North’s secretary of state by the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Dermot Ahern has said he will raise “at the earliest opportunity” the case of Seamus Ludlow, who was shot dead by loyalists close to his home north of Dundalk in 1976.

An inquest into the murder was held this week and a jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing.

Separately, a retired judge appointed to probe the murder and subsequent investigation handed his report to the Taoiseach’s office nearly a year ago.

It has not even been discussed by cabinet and no firm publication date has been established.

Two people who witnessed the murder made separate statements to the then RUC more than seven years ago. The North’s Director of Public Prosecutions decided not to press charges.

The murder occurred within Mr Ahern’s constituency, where many of Mr Ludlow’s relatives still live.

A spokesman for Mr Ahern confirmed yesterday he will raise the murder with Secretary of State Peter Hain. The meeting is likely to happen after he returns from the United Nations on September 18.

“The minister has stated he will raise the issue at the earliest opportunity. The minister has always insisted that the complete truth must come out in relation to the case,” the spokesman said.

The family of the 47-year-old forestry worker believes agencies here also have questions to answer about the investigation that followed the murder.

An inquest in to his death heard gardaí had the names of at least two suspects as early as 1979.

Former murder squad detective John Courtney told the inquest in Dundalk that he passed the names on to the garda crime and security branch.

It was known from an early stage that he was killed by loyalists, yet his family was always told the IRA was involved in the murder.

His nephew Jimmy Sharkey said: “The gardaí do have questions to answer. But we are also still trying to find out what was known at the time by the Justice Department and the Taoiseach’s office. We are still trying to find that out.”

The Ludlow murder and investigation was one of a number probed by Mr Justice Henry Barron, who was also tasked with compiling a report on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974.

Mr Justice Barron’s completed report was handed over to the Taoiseach’s office nearly a year ago but it has not yet been published.

A Government spokes-man said the report will be brought to the cabinet in the near future and then to the Oireachtas justice committee, after which it will be published.

The family believes there was a cover-up by agencies on both sides of the border. It is alleged one of the four people suspected of involvement in the murder was an RUC special branch agent.

In addition, two of the four were serving members of the Ulster Defence Regiment, an arm of the British security forces. One was a full-time captain at the time.

Two people who claim to have been present when Mr Ludlow was shot made statements to the RUC in 1998.

They claimed he was picked up as he was hitching home from Dundalk.

He was brought to a laneway, shot three times and then dumped.

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