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The Irish News, 28 May 2009:

Gardai have closed file on 1976 Seamus Ludlow murder: family

by Valerie Robinson

Southern Correspondent

Gardai have closed their file on the 1976 murder of Co Louth forestry worker Seamus Ludlow, his family have said.

During a meeting in Dundalk yesterday with senior gardai, including Assistant Commissioner Martin Callinan, relatives said they had been told that investigators had reached a point where no further progress could be made and a prosecution was unlikely.

The family said gardai had told them they had travelled to Northern Ireland on more than one occasion to formally and informally question two of four men suspected of being involved in the killing.

Mr Ludlow's nephew Jimmy Sharkey told The Irish News that the family's legal representatives would write to the Department of the Taoiseach to lobby for further movement on the case.

"At the end of the day what we really want is an independent public inquiry, something short and sharp. We just want some answers," he said.

Mr Sharkey's uncle was shot dead after being lured into a car after leaving a Dundalk pub on the night of May 2 1976.

His body was found dumped in a laneway the next day, having been shot three times. No-one has ever been charged with the murder,

Mr Justice Henry Barron was highly critical of the Garda handling of the initial investigation and the force's treatment of Mr Ludlow's relatives.