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The Barron Inquiry - Draft Terms of Reference for Inquiry - A Fresh Inquest - 2005 Inquest Account - BIRW Report - Witness Account - Ludlow Family Account - Sunday World report May 1976 - Meeting the Police Ombudsman - Ed Moloney Radio Interview - 25th Anniversary - Profile - Questions - Photographs - Press Release - Letter to RUC - Magill article 1999 - Press Coverage - Barron Report Published - Ludlow Family Response to Barron Report - Download the Barron Report from the Oireachtas website (pdf file) - Statement from Justice for the Forgotten - Joint Oireachtas Committee Request for Submissions - Joint statement from Justice for the Forgotten, Relatives for Justice and the Pat Finucane Centre - Download Transcript of Ludlow family meeting with Oireachtas Sub-Committee (Word file) Original Ludlow Family website - Second Ludlow Family website - The Dundalk Bombing The Dundalk Democrat, 25 January 2006: Seamus Ludlow Oireachtas hearings Emotional scenes on first day of hearing By Anne Marie Eaton Emotions ran high as members of the family addressed an Oireachtas Committee on the first day of public hearings into the 1976 murder of their brother and uncle Seamus Ludlow. Seamus' brother and sisters along with nephews and nieces have given the committee personal accounts on the aftermath of Seamus' murder, their treatment over the years and also an insight into Seamus himself. Seamus, a 47 year old forestry worker was shot three times in the chest and his body dumped over a ditch in a laneway just of the Bog Road in Mountpleasant. Kevin Ludlow, who identified his brother's body to Gardai was very emotional as he made the first of the family addresses to the Committee. He described how Gardai continually said that the IRA had killed Seamus and on occasion said family members were involved. It was , he said "lies, lies, lies." "It's a shame to think that a member of the state was treated this way. "We'll have to get a public inquiry. We didn't even get an apology from them." Jimmy Sharkey was stopped on two occasions as he addressed the Committee. "I was asked was the coroner in 1976 part of the cover-up. I said no the Gardai told me he was sloppy. That's when I was stopped." Along with Kevin and Jimmy, Seamus' sisters Nan and Eileen also sopke as did Seamus' nephews and a niece. "Kevin spoke on his dealings with the Gardai while my mother, Nan spoke on what sort of a person Seamus was. Eileen gave her own personal recollerctions and his nephews and a niece will speak on what they have had to deal with in the years since Seamus' murder." Jimmy has said the family's need for an independent public inquiry remains and that they hope the Oireachtas Committee hearings will be another step towards that goal. "The bottom line is we still want an independent public inquiry." In November last the Barron Report into Seamus' murder laid the blame for not apprehending his killers at the door of Gardai with now retired Commissioner Laurence Wren cited as the person who most likely halted the investigations failing to question four men even though their names were known to the RUC in 1977 and passed to the Gardai by the RUC in 1979. It also revealed the same four suspects were questioned in 1998. Jimmy said that the family hope the Committee will provide some of the answers. "We want to know why the Gardai did not take any action when they received infoprmation and suspects' names in 1979. "We want to know why for 20 years Gardai said the IRA had killed Seamus when they knew who the murder suspercts were and their links to the loyalist Red Hand Commandos." The afternoon of the first day of hearings was taken up with speakers from Justice for the Forgotten and British Irish Rights Watch. The hearings are expected to continue over the coming months concluding in March.. I Top I The Dundalk Democrat, 25 January 2006: Moloney set to give evidence By Anne Marie Eaton Acclaimed journalist Ed Moloney is expected to give evidence in the Committee hearings. Mr Moloney was the Northern Editor of the Sunday Tribune and in the late 1990s published an interview with Paul Hosking, who has admitted to being an eye witness to the Ludlow murder. A series of articles highlighted Hosking's account of the sequence of events on the night of Seamus' murder; how the Mountpleasant man had been picked up in the car and then murdered and dumped in the laneway close to his home. They also highlighted that Hosking had met with Special Branch in Northern Ireland in the 1980s and gave them information. However, when he asked Special Branch what would happen next he was told 'Forget it. It's political.' On the 25th anniversary of Seamus' murder ED Moloney spoke at a special service by the memorial where Seamus' body had been dumped. He said to the large gathering: "The authorities in the state have behaved disgracefully - they have lied, misled and deliberately divided the Ludlow family, pitched sibling against sibling for two decades - that can never be recovered." I Top I I Download the Barron Report from the Oireachtas website (pdf file) SUPPORT THE SEAMUS LUDLOW APPEAL FUND Bank of Ireland 78 Clanbrassil Street Dundalk County Louth IrelandAccount No. 70037984 Thank You.
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