The
Hamilton Inquiry.
(Now the Barron Inquiry.)
The Ludlow family has campaigned consistently for
public inquiries in both jurisdictions in Ireland into the sectarian murder in
County Louth of their dear relative Seamus Ludlow.
Seamus was murdered by members of the outlawed
Loyalist murder gang, the Red Hand Commando and the British Army's Ulster
Defence Regiment (UDR) on the
night of 1st and 2nd May, 1976. The four suspects, whose names are all known to
the Ludlow family, were arrested by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in February 1998, but once again
they have evaded the justice that they were protected from since 1976.
The Ludlow family demands a full accounting of
the failure by both the Gardai and the RUC to bring the killers to justice. They
demand explanations and apologies for the smearing of the innocent victim and
the covering-up of his murder to protect his killers who were identified very
soon after the crime was committed.
The Irish government hopes that the
Ludlow family will accept the ongoing private Hamilton Inquiry (conducted since
October 2000 by the former Irish Supreme Court judge Henry Barron), into the Dublin,
Monaghan and Dundalk bombings, something less than the public inquiry that has
been demanded, but this private option has been rejected.
The
then Irish Minister for Justice, Mr. John
O'Donoghue, formally recommended the private Barron Inquiry with a follow-up
public Joint Oirachtas Committee hearing, to the Ludlow family, when they met
him in Dublin on 23 May 2001. The Ludlow family rejected his proposals outright.
They can have no confidence in any inquiry held in private, where there is no
public access to witness evidence or documents. Mr. O'Donoghue then took the
view that there was nothing further to discuss and that it was the Ludlow family
who were the cause of the stalemate! The
Ludlow family rejected this view entirely, seeing very little in the
Minister's proposals that could establish truth and justice for Seamus
Ludlow. The failure to achieve any movement rested with the Irish government,
which now makes regular demands of the British to hold public inquiries into
other ghastly state killings in the North of Ireland, while it hypocritically refuses to hold
public inquiries in its own jurisdiction. Indeed,
they Ludlow family were outright in their condemnation of the Minister's private
inquiry option and they ridiculed his proposal for a Joint Oireachtas Committee
hearing, since that body was now looking weaker by the day as its powers to ask
questions and summon witnesses were daily being eroded by challenges from the
gardai and Mr. O'Donoghue's own department since it began its investigation of
the gardai armed Emergency Response Unit (ERU) and its shooting dead of John Carthy at
Abbeylara, County Longford.
The only obstacle to the holding of an inquiry
into Seamus Ludlow's foul murder and the cover-up, or more precisely the
publication of any report of such an inquiry, as indicated in his official report by the
Irish Victims Commissioner John
Wilson - a report commissioned and accepted by the Dublin government - was the
then strong possibility of a
pending prosecution of the four Loyalist suspects in the North.
This possibility has
been removed by the failure of the Northern Ireland Director of Public
Prosecutions (DPP) to bring charges against any of the former UDR/Red Hand
Commando suspects. Accordingly
the Ludlow family now reaffirmed its demand for a fully public and independent inquiry to be convened at the
earliest possible opportunity. Mr.
Wilson's recommendations for an investigation into the original botched or
sabotaged Gardai investigation of the murder of Seamus Ludlow, by a retired
Supreme Court judge like Liam Hamilton, and the DPP's extraordinary decision can
be viewed in the box at the top of this page. Given the shameful failure of the
Northern Ireland DPP, and the RUC, to press charges against any of the suspects,
there could, in the Ludlow family's view, be no justification for a private
inquiry as recommended by Mr. Wilson.
Further, Mr. Hamilton's shock resignation
in October 2000, on health grounds, from his private inquiry, prior to his
completing his report on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings (which left 33 people
dead and 300 injured in the four separate no-warning bombs, planted by the UVF at
the height of the Loyalist Ulster Workers Council strike against the Sunningdale
Agreement in 1974), raised serious questions about the suitability of a
one-man private investigation of such grave issues. Sadly, Mr. Hamilton was very
ill indeed, for his death was reported in the national press on 1 December 2000.
To date, neither the RUC nor the Gardai have
issued an apology for their role in protecting Seamus Ludlow's killers and the
British authorities in Belfast and their Irish counterparts in Dublin have not
responded to the Ludlow family's just demands for a full and independent public inquiry.
While the
British remain utterly silent on this issue, in Dublin there remains a fierce
reluctance to go beyond a private inquiry, like the Hamilton Inquiry, for any of the Loyalist atrocities
that were committed south of the border.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern TD announced on Sunday,
19th. December, 1999, that the outgoing Chief Justice, Mr. Liam Hamilton was
being invited to "undertake a thorough examination, involving fact finding
and assessment of all aspects of the Dublin, Monaghan and Dundalk bombings and
their sequel, including
- the facts, causes and
perpetrators of the bombings;
- the nature, adequacy and extent
of Garda investigations, including the adequacy of co-operation with and from
the relevant authorities in Northern Ireland and the adequacy of the handling
of scientific analyses of forensic evidence; and
- the reasons why no prosecution
took place, including whether and if so, by whom and to what extent the
investigations were impeded. . .".
This was the closest that the Dublin authorities
had come to acceding to the various family's' demands for a public inquiry in
those cases, but it remained to be seen if the formula laid out in Mr. Ahern's
statement was acceptable to all concerned. Still,
the Ludlow family was mindful that their demand was for a genuine public
inquiry, and that now that the Northern Ireland DPP was no longer standing in
the way, there was no justification for Dublin's failure to convene such an
inquiry, perhaps on lines similar to those of the present British Saville
Inquiry into the Bloody Sunday in Derry.
One thing is clear though - the Seamus Ludlow
case was, at this stage at least, not even being considered by the Dublin
government for the Hamilton Inquiry.
Chief Justice Liam Hamilton was not being asked to look into the murder of
Seamus Ludlow and the subsequent cover-up and smear campaign that has been the
focus of the Ludlow family's campaign for truth and justice.
Therefore, the
Ludlow family circle's attitude to the proposed Hamilton inquiry was largely
irrelevant. The Ludlow family was given no choice to consider at the outset of
the Hamilton Inquiry, though it was
becoming increasingly clear that Hamilton could not produce the truth that was
demanded by the Ludlow family, and was perhaps designed to ensure that the full truth
of what was done would never be revealed.
The Ludlow family had every reason to believe
that the murder of Seamus Ludlow should at least have been included in Mr.
Ahern's inadequate proposals, however deficient they were when held up to close scrutiny.
After all, four Loyalists were arrested by the RUC for
questioning about that foul crime in February 1998; the Northern Ireland
Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had decided on 15 October 1999 that none
of the four prime suspects would be prosecuted; and the Ludlow family
had received firm information from within the Gardai that confirmed their worst
suspicions of an official cover-up.
Not least among their concerns was the
revelation of the existence of a long suppressed Garda file that contained the
names of several suspects. The file had been received from the RUC, in the North, in
1979.
The proposed private Hamilton inquiry did not satisfy the Ludlow family's demands, but at least it should initially have been an
option for the family to consider: to accept or to reject. By the summer of 2000
it was all too clear that Hamilton was indeed falling far short of the Ludlow family's
clear demands.
The family, through their solicitor, continued to demand the
holding of a full independent inquiry, where all necessary papers and witness
would be examined in public. Meanwhile, the private Hamilton Inquiry was going
nowhere, with expected dates for the conclusion of a first report not met -
effectively stringing out the whole inquiry into the bombings of Dublin and
Monaghan.
Matters worsened in October 2000 with the sudden and unexpected
resignation of Mr. Justice Hamilton, on, at that time unspecified, health grounds, before finishing his
report. Mr. Hamilton died soon afterwards on 29 November 2000.
Although he was soon replaced by judge Henry Barron, it remained to be
seen whether or not the whole unsatisfactory process was being put back to
square one. Although the Ludlow family had rejected Mr. Hamilton's private
inquiry, this rejection was not a personal criticism of Mr. Hamilton himself.
There were strong indications by the end of January 2000
that the Department of Justice in Dublin was looking at adding the Seamus Ludlow
case to Mr. Justice Liam Hamilton's remit. The following statement from the
Private Secretary at the Minister's office comes from a letter, dated 31
January, 2000, to the Ludlow family's solicitor:
"The Minister believes that including the
case of the late Mr. Ludlow as part of the remit of Mr. Justice Hamilton would
be the most appropriate way to address the concerns which have been expressed
about this case. Accordingly, he has asked me to tell you that he is minded to
recommend to his colleagues in Government that the case be included in the
remit of Mr. Justice Hamilton."
The Department of Justice called upon the Ludlow
family's solicitor to inquire and inform the Minister of the Ludlow family's
attitude to this approach. As Mr. Justice Liam Hamilton was due to commence his
work very shortly, the Private Secretary said "it would be very much
appreciated if you could respond to the Minister's proposal within the next
week".
Notably absent from the Private Secretary's
letter was a response to the Ludlow family's repeated request for the releasing
of the recent Garda investigation report from the 1998 inquiry headed by Chief
Superintendent Ted Murphy, and other relevant files from 1976 and 1979.
If the Minister for Justice was expecting
immediate acceptance from the Ludlow family for a proposal that had neither been
made public nor explained in great detail at that time, he was to be disappointed. The Ludlow
family had not given up on its firm demands for a public inquiry and for access
to Garda and RUC reports on the sectarian murder of Seamus Ludlow. There were
still many questions to be examined before the Ludlow family could consider
giving assent
to the Minister's still private proposal for what was a private inquiry.
The then Hamilton Inquiry was not initially rejected
outright, but
the Ludlow family would require much more persuasion before they would accept
something less than their basic demands of truth and justice through a public
inquiry. Would the private Hamilton Inquiry satisfy all their demands? Would it uncover
the whole truth about Seamus Ludlow's sectarian murder? Would it get to the
bottom of the RUC and Garda cover-up which has kept Seamus Ludlow's UDR and Red
Hand Commando killers immune from justice since 1976?
Was the private Hamilton Inquiry any more than a
last-ditch Dublin government attempt to control the release of relevant
information, to limit damaging revelations and to protect the image and
reputations of the Garda and others who may have serious questions to answer?
Was it a genuine attempt to uncover the whole truth regardless of the
consequence? Was it aimed only at bringing out the full unvarnished truth behind
the shameful failure to bring to justice those responsible for heinous crimes in
the Irish state? Would the various families be granted effective legal
representation, with the absolute right to demand the release of files and to
subpoena vital witnesses, who could be questioned under oath?
If the answers to these questions is
"No", then clearly the Hamilton Inquiry could surely not meet with the stated
requirements of the Ludlow family. If the answers to these questions is
"Yes", as Government statements seemed to say, then the
Ludlow family could ask, why not go the full distance and establish a
public inquiry? If there is truly nothing to hide, then there should be a public
inquiry.
On 25 February, 2000, the Ludlow family's
solicitor sent his response to the Minister for Justice, "reflecting the
view of the family in relation to the similarities between this case and that of
Pat Finucane". The solicitor referred to previous correspondence, saying
that he was looking "forward to hearing from you in relation to this matter
and in particular to receiving a copy of the Investigation Report."
The
solicitor concluded: "Again on behalf of the family we must emphasise the
view that the case for a public inquiry is compelling and unanswerable. We look
forward to hearing from you." The solicitor was still waiting more
than four months later. The Ludlow
family rejected the proposal made by the Minister for Justice at a meeting with
him on 23 May 2001. By that time there was still no further progress and the
Minister remained controversially set against holding a public inquiry, although
he stressed that it was not ruled out for the future.
The Dublin government initially said that it
intended that
the then Hamilton inquiry will "have full access to all files and papers of
Government Departments and the Garda Siochana. The Government will also direct
that all members of the Public Service and the Garda Siochana extend their full
co-operation to him. Furthermore, the Taoiseach intends that the Government will
seek the co-operation of the British authorities with the Chief Justice's
examination.
"The results of the Chief Justice's
inquiry will be presented to the Government, and there will follow "an
examination of the report in public session by the "Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality and Women's Rights or a sub-committee of that
Committee".
The following excerpt from the Statement by the
Taoiseach on the Dublin, Monaghan and Dundalk Bombings (19th December, 1999)
gives further details of the private process that the Minister for Justice had recommended to the Ludlow family, who remained opposed to this private alternative
to a public inquiry:
(Because of the separation of powers between
the Executive and the Legislature, it is not possible for the Government to
direct the Oireachtas or a Committee of it to take a particular action.
However, the Government would do everything in its power to ensure that the
Committee took this action and, as there is cross-party support for this
approach, the Government are confident that matters would unfold along the
lines envisaged.)
"It is also envisaged by the Government by
the Government that the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality and
Women's rights would direct that the report prepared by the Chief Justice be
submitted to the Committee, in order for it to advise the Oireachtas as to
what further action, if any, would be necessary to establish the truth of what
happened.
"The Committees of the Houses of the
Oireachtas (Compellability, Privileges and Immunity of Witnesses) Act, 1997
enables the Oireachtas to confer power on an Oireachtas Committee to send for
persons, papers and records and it is envisaged that these powers would be
invoked, including at the stage where the Committee, in public session,
considered the follow-up to be given to the report of the Chief Justice.
"The Government envisage that that this
consideration will involve hearings at which
- the
Justice for the Forgotten Group,
representing the injured and bereaved, would have the right to appear before,
and be heard before, the Committee;
- the Committee would exercise powers to direct
the material relevant to the findings of the report to be placed before it;
and
- it would also exercise powers to call persons
to appear before it to respond publicly to the report.
"As the Government see the matter, there
would be three approaches open to the Committee:
(i) advise that the report achieved as far as
possible the objective of finding out the truth and that no further action
would be required or fruitful;
(ii) advise that the report did not achieve the
objective which could only be done through a public inquiry; or
(iii) advise that the report did not achieve
the objective and the Committee or a sub-committee of the Committee should
examine the matter further (as outlined previously, the options available to
such committees or sub-committees include public hearings and powers to send
for persons, papers and records). . .".
It is for the Justice for the Forgotten group
and the people bereaved and injured by the Dublin, Monaghan and Dundalk bombings
to decide whether or not the private Hamilton Inquiry process, as outlined above, is
appropriate to their demands.
The Ludlow family
accepted their right to make
their own decisions in their own cases. The Ludlow family had considered
Mr. Ahern's and Mr. O'Donoghue's proposals for the Hamilton (Barron) Inquiry and
Joint Oireachtas Committee hearing and they were still rejected as having
no merit in meeting the family's stated demands. The
idea of a public Joint Oireachtas Committee hearing had recently been severely
undermined by the gardai and the Department of Justice who had challenged its
powers in regard to its investigation of the controversial Abbeylara case -
making it little more than a rubber stamp body with none of the powers envisaged
originally by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. It was daily becoming apparent that this
can be no alternative to a public inquiry as envisaged by the Ludlow family.
The Dublin Government's ideas for extending the
remit of the Hamilton (Barron) Inquiry so that it would look also at the murder of Seamus
Ludlow were outlined in further detail during Taoiseach's questions
in Leinster House, Dublin, on 23 May 2000. Mr. Ahern stated that this was
his government's advice to the Ludlow family, who he accepts have "strong
views and they are not yet satisfied that this is the best way to proceed".
Mr. Ahern repeated his previous claim that he has
met with the Ludlow family. Well, this is strange news to the late Seamus
Ludlow's surviving brother, three sisters and many nephews and nieces and their
families, for no Ludlow family group has ever met with Mr. Ahern. Requests for a
meeting with Mr. Ahern have never been acknowledged. Repeated requests for such
a meeting have been ignored, while Mr Ahern has met with other families who have
lost loved ones in the North.
Mr. Ahern went on to introduce various arguments which could later be used as an
excuse
for any failure of such an inquiry. For instance, Mr. Ahern said:
"As Deputy Quinn is aware, there are
difficulties in the Seamus Ludlow case, including cross-jurisdictional issues.
An added complication is that identifiable individuals were accused publicly
in the case and the DPP in Northern Ireland, having considered evidence
available there, decided not to prefer charges. This will make a public
examination of the case difficult here. However, my view remains that an
examination by the former Chief Justice is the best way to proceed."
Such arguments promote little confidence that the
proposed Hamilton (now Barron) process will produce the desired results, or that it was ever
intended to. Certainly nothing
said by Mr. Ahern helped persuade the Ludlow family that Hamilton (Barron) was the best way
forward or any alternative to a public inquiry. The Taoiseach's position
was explained further in a letter to the Ludlow family solicitor of 28
July 2000. Interestingly, the Private Secretary's letter concluded:
"Under this approach, a public
judicial inquiry is not ruled out at this stage. It would be one of a number of
options that could be considered, following on the completion of an examination
by an eminent legal person. Some useful points which will no doubt help guide
the Ludlow family towards a final decision were made by the broadcaster and
writer Don Mullan - noted author of the momentous Eyewitness Bloody Sunday
and the recently published book The
Dublin and Monaghan Bombings (published by Wolfhound Press,
October 2000) - in a communication with a member of the family.
Mr. Mullan, a valued
supporter of the Ludlow family's campaign for justice, has advised:
"There will, no doubt, be linkages,
especially regarding the perpetrators of the crimes and the collusion of
British State forces. However, I think it is important that we don't
allow the government to submerge all incidents in a pot of political stew.
Each crime deserves to be examined on its own merits. The dead and the
bereaved are entitled to no less. Mr. Mullan has raised important points here. Can
an inquiry process dealing with more than one atrocity - the Dublin and Monaghan
bombings of 1974, the Dundalk bombing of 1975, and perhaps also the Castleblaney bombing
and other Dublin bombings as well as Seamus Ludlow's murder, treat each
case on its own merits or will it seek out simple common denominators and
thereby avoid close examination of the specifics of each case?
It is also important to the Ludlow family that
all others presently demanding truth and justice for other
Loyalist/British forces crimes in the Irish state, and their many other victims
north of the border, should collectively support each other. They are all
victims of state violence and their plight has been ignored by the very state
which has brought them grief and suffering. They all fully deserve the truth and
justice that the British authorities have long denied them and the Ludlow family
will support them in their just demands.
Postscript, 23 November 2001: In
a devastating blow to the Dublin government's proposed plan for a private
inquiry and Joint Oireachtas Committee investigation into the 1976 murder of
Seamus Ludlow, the three-judge Irish High Court in Dublin, in a landmark
decision, has sharply restricted the scope of Oireachtas
investigations. The Court has upheld a challenge by 36 members of
the Garda Emergency Response Unit against the conduct of the inquiry into the
April 2000 killing of John Carthy in Abbeylara, County Longford. Oireachtas
inquiries cannot now make "findings of fact or expressions of opinion"
which damage the good name of citizens who are not TDs or senators. Further update: The Ludlow family met with the
then Irish Attorney General Michael McDowell on 21 February 2002 at Government
Buildings, Dublin. Accompanied by their legal advisor James McGuill, solicitor,
Dundalk, and, once again, by Jane Winter, Director, British Irish Rights Watch
(BIRW), London, the Ludlow family was informed that No Public Inquiry would take
place before a private Barron Inquiry with a Draft Terms
of Reference based closely on those described above for the Dublin and
Monaghan Bombings inquiry. You
can read further about this setback for the Ludlow family's campaign for truth
and justice by reading the report that was published in the Dundalk
Democrat newspaper on 2 March 2002. In this, Jimmy Sharkey gives the Ludlow
family's first public reaction to the Dublin government's cruel decision to
continue with the cover-up. The Dublin Government had decided to go ahead
with the private Barron inquiry, regardless of the Ludlow family's stated objections.
The Ludlow family restated their demand for a public inquiry and assured the
Attorney General that their opinion on the proposed private inquiry had not
changed since their unsatisfactory meeting in 2001 with the Minister for
Justice, John O'Donoghue. However,
in June and July 2002, after much consideration, members of the Ludlow
family met with Mr Justice Henry Barron to assist him in his inquiry.
Though still calling for a public inquiry, the Ludlow family have been advised
that boycotting Mr Justice Barron's inquiry, which is going ahead anyway, would
not be a wise option at this time. The Ludlow family requested access to all
files and witness statements that were seen by Mr Justice Barron, but this
request was turned down. The
Ludlow family met with Mr Justice Barron again on 14 November, and a list of
questions important to the Ludlow family was put to the judge. It was hoped that
the questions would help the judge and his private inquiry. Again, it was
put to him that the Ludlow family still requested access to files and evidence
that is available to his inquiry. It
was hoped that such access would enable the Ludlow family to help the judge to
make progress with his inquiry. Given the Ludlow family's knowledge of the facts
of the case it was felt that they could help Mr Justice Barron, not least by
guiding him towards the relevant witnesses and assisting him with Ludlow family
comments on the evidence he sees and hears. Unfortunately,
Mr Justice Barron did not agree to allowing such access to the Ludlow family.
However, he did agree to write to the Ludlow family's lawyer to indicate matters
that were raised in such interviews. This letter was to be passed to the Ludlow
family for their comments. Mr
Justice Barron wrote the above mentioned letter on 27 February 2003. The letter
referred to matters that were raised at the previous meetings with Mr Justice
Barron, as well as statements made to him by unidentified witnesses. Points raised by Mr Justice Barron included: It
has been said that although there were several possibilities considered as
to how Seamus Ludlow came to his death, there was no evidence to support any
of them. The
inquiry has seen
intelligence passed to the security section of an garda Siochana suggesting
that Seamus Ludlow was murdered because he was an informer. Gardai to whom
the Inquiry has spoken do not accept this. It
has been suggested that there were murders of persons in the Dundalk area
who had accidentally come across information or had spoken a word out of
turn. At
present the progress of the Inquiry has been slowed owing to the absence of
any information being received from outside the jurisdiction. The
above points indicate that there were indeed elements within the Gardai who
helped spread lies about Seamus Ludlow being an informer who was murdered by the
IRA - claims that were privately made to members of the Ludlow family by
individual gardai on several occasions. Sometimes this lie was amended to a
claim that Seamus Ludlow was murdered by the IRA perhaps because he saw
something while he was engaged in his work at Ravensdale Forest. Yet another lie
that has been bandied about for a number of years. The
final statement reveals the continued indifference to truth and justice in this
sad affair that exists within the British RUC/PSNI police force and the British Army
in the Six Counties, who are giving no assistance to Mr Justice Barron. The
PSNI (then the RUC) had a file on the known killers of Seamus Ludlow since at
least 1977, and it is clear that they have important evidence that could be of
help to Mr Justice Barron. Since at least two of Seamus Ludlow's killers were
members of the British Army's Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) it is clear that the
British army could also be helpful if they were so inclined. The
Barron Inquiry released its private inquiry report on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings
to the Irish government at the end of October 2003. Reacting
to this new development, Jimmy Sharkey, a nephew of the murdered Seamus Ludlow,
was interviewed by the local Dundalk
Democrat, 8 November 2003 As
they wait to hear if Seamus’ murder is included in this report, Jimmy
doesn’t feel it will have a great impact. “As has already been said,
Barron is probably an honourable man and is probably trying to do his best,
but I really don’t think it will make much difference for us. “We
put forward names of people we felt should have been included in the inquiry
and they were not.”. An
eye witness to the murder, Paul Hosking, came forward in recent years and
stated that Seamus’ murder was carried out by UDR men with links to the
Loyalist Red Hand Commandos. In a published interview, he said he had given
the information to the RUC in 1987 and was told: “Forget it, it’s
political”. Hosking
said that he, along with three men, had been travelling in a yellow Datsun
from Comber to Killyleagh, on to Omeath and then to Dundalk. Mr Ludlow was
hitching a lift home and the car stopped to pick him up. According
to Hosking’s account, Seamus told the men they had driven past his house.
The car turned down what is known as the Bog Road and turned into another
lane. Hosking
said he got out of the car and as he had his back turned, he heard gunshots
fired. The man who had been sitting in the front seat of the car was shooting
into it. Seamus’ body was taken out and dumped in the ditch. Paul
Hosking put himself in the spotlight and told the public what had happened
that night, yet as far as we know, he was not interviewed by Justice Barron. Jimmy
Sharkey believes that another person who should have been interviewed is
Police Ombudsman, Nuala O’Loan. “The
family met with Nuala O’Loan and it was a very informative meeting. It
would have been useful for Barron to have a conversation with her. Jimmy says
he hopes that the Dublin and Monaghan families do make some progress as a
result of the Barron Inquiry, but he does not see his uncle’s murderers
ever being prosecuted. “The
chances are the main protagonists involved in the Dublin and Monaghan
bombings are dead. Those who were involved in Seamus’ murder are still very
much alive and we don’t think any of them will be prosecuted,” he said. The
first Barron Report was released to the public on 10 November 2003. See the
link below to download the full text in pdf format. (There may be a slight
delay.) There is also a link to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's statement about this
release. The
outcome, after four years of investigation by Mr Justice Barron, and by his
predecessor the late Mr Justice Liam Hamilton, does not promote
confidence in the private inquiry's forthcoming reports on the Dundalk
bombing and the murder of Seamus Ludlow. These inquiries will also be
hampered by missing files in the Department of Justice in Dublin and by
British government indifference to requests for cooperation. However,
Mr Justice Barron saw enough for him to make damning criticisms of the garda
investigation and of the attitude and actions of the Fine Gael-Labour
coalition government of that time. Mr
Justice Barron's Report has disappointed many of the surviving victims and
their relatives in that he failed to find evidence of high level collusion
between the loyalist UVF murder gang and the British authorities in the Six
Counties. As one member of Justice for the Forgotten observed, he failed
to find such collusion because he was not allowed to, with London refusing to
cooperate and with relevant files in the Department of Justice missing or
destroyed. Mr
Justice Barron criticised the lack of co-operation by the British government,
which refused to make original documents available to the inquiry. Following
a trawl of 68,000 files, the then Northern Ireland secretary of state Dr John
Reid provided a 16-page document - out of the millions
of relevant documents it held - to the inquiry in February 2002,
nearly 18 months after information was sought. With
some justification, the British Government was widely criticised over
its “contempt” for the Barron Inquiry The
Ludlow family is aware that the British authorities are also failing to
provide the still ongoing Barron Inquiry with documents it requested
regarding the May 1976 murder of Seamus Ludlow A
solicitor representing relatives of some of the victims called for a public
inquiry with powers to subpoena witnesses and documents.
"The
problem is that this inquiry has been working behind closed doors for some
time and simply
hasn't delivered," said Des Doherty
"It's
the fault of the process more than anything else - there's no other mechanism
available."
He
added: "How documents can go missing or cannot be found simply beggars
belief." Angela
O'Neill, who lost her father in the attacks, said the report contained
nothing that they did not already know. The
Ludlow family now await Mr Justice Barron's Report on the murder of Seamus
Ludlow, mindful that he will be reporting on the same unsympathetic
government and garda authorities and that it seems most likely that relevant
Department of Justice files must have met the same fate as those regarding
the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. His
Report may only serve to intensify demands for a full public inquiry
with the power to subpoena witnesses and documents - a power which Mr Justice
Barron never had. Meanwhile, a fresh
inquest in Dundalk will be held in the near future. (See links to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings campaign on
the Ludlow family's Links page.) To Top I
Home I Print this
page.
See
also:
Magill
Magazine,
September 2002: The
Truth Trickles Out Mystery
has always surrounded the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings. An independent
inquiry has been set up to look at the events surrounding the attacks, and the
bombing of Dundalk the following year. Donall O Maolfabhail reports on its
likely findings. The
Dundalk Democrat, 21 September 2002: Barron
investigations lead to public inquiry into Dundalk bombing
Sunday Business Post, 19 January 2003: Dublin-Monaghan:
will the truth finally out? The
Irish News, 21 March 2003: Loyalist
murder inquiry call renewed
The
Irish Sun, 26 March 2003: Report on Ludlow to be
unveiled
Ireland on
Sunday, 12
October 2003: Top
names linked to Dublin-Monaghan atrocity Bombs report names gardai
'collaborators'
The
Sunday Independent, 2 November 3003: Net
is closing in on Dublin car bombers
The
Dundalk Democrat, 8 November 2003: Dundalk
bombing and Ludlow murder ignored The
Dundalk Democrat, 8 November 2003: Family feel inquiry will
make little difference The
Dundalk Democrat, 8 November 2003: Inquest
could be next January The
Barron Report can be downloaded in pdf format from http://www.irlgov.ie/oireachtas/Committees-29th-D%E1il/jcjedwr-debates/InterimDubMon.pdf
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"Nor would examination by Judge Hamilton preclude your clients continuing,
if they wished, to campaign for a public inquiry, as the Justice for the
Forgotten group continue to do in regard to the Dublin/Monaghan bombings.
"The case of the murder of Mr. Ludlow has been dealt with in a recent
submission to the Government. it is now expected that interdepartmental
consultations on the best approach will be brought to a conclusion soon, with a
view to a further submission to an early meeting of the Government."
"It is certainly worth considering whether or not you should cooperate
with a Hamilton Assessment of all the available evidence concerning Shamus's
murder and your subsequent experience with the Garda 'Investigation'.
Whatever you decide, however, I think it is important you insist on allowing
the Seamus Ludlow case to stand on its own, just as Dublin and Monaghan should
stand on its own, along with the Dundalk bombing and the 1972 Dublin
bombing.
"Having said that, I think it is very important that each individual
campaign should be united in a collective effort to support and encourage one
another."
Revised: March 12, 2005 .