Public enquiry nothing more nothing less

The family of murdered forestry worker Seamus Ludlow have repeated demands for an independent public inquiry into the death.

Relatives appeared before the Oireachtas Justice Sub-Committee yeserday (Tuesday) which has begun hearings into last November’s report by Mr Justice Henry Barron into the 1976 crime.

Mr Ludlow, 47, who the Barron report said had no links to paramilitary groups, was shot dead on May 2nd, 1976, as he returned home from a night out.

Mr Ludlow’s nephew Jimmy Sharkey told the all-party body “The Barron report left a lot of unanswered questions. The forum for these to be addressed is an independent public inquiry.

“It is the bottom line for us. Nothing else. Nothing more.”

Brother, Kevin Ludlow today said the family had still not received any apology from gardai who investigated the case. “It’s a shame to think of the way the gardai acted. We were treated very badly. Nothing only lies from the gardaí.

The Barron report said the RUC told gardai in 1979 that it believed four named loyalists were involved in his killing, but this information was not pursued by the Garda at the time.

Mr Ludlow said gardaí blamed the IRA for the crime at the time.

“We shouldn’t have to go through all of this for 30 years. It wasn’t fair what was done to us,” he said.

“They were covering up the whole thing all the time.

Mr Ludlow said the gardai never offered an apology to the family on the issue.

“They never even said they were sorry for anything. That hasn’t come. Will it ever come?

“We’re not getting any younger and it’s time it came to a head.

Earlier, family solicitor Mr James MacGuill said “This has been an appalling three decades of experience of how an ordinary law-abiding family found themselves in a set of completely life-changing circumstances which was compounded by the state authorities they had to deal with.”