A campaigner for victims of the Troubles has launched a High Court challenge seeking clarity over the State policy on the holding of a border poll in Northern Ireland.

The Garda smearing of a murdered man's name ranks among the most shameful episodes of the Irish state, Dublin's High Court has been told.

The family of Co Louth man Seamus Ludlow, who was murdered during the Troubles, have launched a legal action aimed at compelling the State to establish commissions of investigation into his death.

Several men seeking the reopening of a landmark case against Britain over the alleged use of torture techniques in Northern Ireland during the Troubles are "heartened" the Government is now taking their case seriously, their counsel told the High Court yesterday.

The High Court has heard the Government has not yet decided if the case of the so called "hooded men" should be revisited by the European Court of Human Rights.