The Justice Sub-Committee is into its second week of hearings on the Barron Report into the 1976 murder of Dundalk forestry worker Seamus Ludlow.

Mr Ludlow, 47, who had no links to paramilitary groups, was shot dead as he returned home from a night out.

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

Former Co Louth TD Brendan McGahon yesterday admitted he was wrong to blame the IRA for the murder during a radio interview with RTÉ broadcaster Pat Kenny in 1993.