Minister: Family should have been told about murder report

The family of 1976 murder victim Seamus Ludlow should have been properly informed of this afternoon’s publication of a Government report into his death, Justice Minister Michael McDowell told the Dáil today.

As Opposition parties slammed the shabby treatment of the forestry worker’s relatives, Mr McDowell said he regretted what happened and confirmed a copy of the inquiry’s report was on its way to the Dundalk family.

The report by Justice Henry Barron Inquiry, which was given to the Government 14 months ago, will be published this afternoon by the Oireachtas Justice & Equality Committee.

Mr Ludlow’s family today claimed they only heard about the publication through a telephone call from a journalist at 9.30pm last night.

Mr McDowell today told the Dáil: “It is regrettablethat they haven’t been included in the process as openly as one would have wished.”

Speaking on behalf of the Government during the Order of Business, he said he had made arrangements for a copy of the report to be sent to the family immediately.

He added: “I have been assured by the committee’s chairman Sean Ardagh that he will put the family’s concerns at the centre of the committee’s work and will deal with the matter which fully respects their interest in the matter.”

Mr McDowell accepted the report was presented to the Government 14 months ago but said it wasn’t published at an earlier stage because complex issues arose in relation to it.

He said it had identified a number of people by name, and one individual had to be given the opportunity to respond to findings.

“That was done and took some time,” he added.

He said short notice was given of the publication of the report as party whips in the Dail wished to place it in the public domain as soon as possible.

Ludlow’s family have persistently alleged a police cover-up since the body of the 47-year-old sawmills operator was discovered on May 2 1976 with three shot wounds to the chest, dumped over a ditch near his home.

Opposition party leaders in the Dáil today slammed the shabby treatment of the family in the relation to the report’s publication and called for a full debate on its content.

“The family are very aggrieved that after a long wait, they received no notice of the report being published today,” said Pat Rabbitte, Labour leader.

Fine Gael deputy leader Richard Bruton added that the murder needed to be fully investigated if the public is to have full confidence in the security forces north and south of the border.

Sinn Féin’s Dáil leader Caoimhghin O Caolain accused the Government of gross insensitivity and said it was very disturbing that the family had to learn of the report’s publication from a member of the media.

Earlier today, the Ludlow family said they would not be attending the publication of the report as they had not been properly informed it was going ahead.

Jimmy Sharkey, a nephew of Mr Ludlow, said: “We heard it second-hand, maybe even third-hand, from someone in the media who contacted me at around 9.30pm last night to tell me it was being published today at 2.15pm at a press conference.

“I was quite angry, I had been told around 4.30pm yesterday evening by our legal advisor that he received a phone call from the Taoiseach’s Department yesterday saying that it was going to the Joint Oireachtas today but that it wasn’t being published until tomorrow.”

Mr Sharkey said a request by his solicitor to view a copy of the report was denied.

“I contacted my legal team last night and we were advised not to go today to this, because if we go to it today we are going to be asked to comment on the report and we are not prepared to comment on a report that we don’t know what is in it,” he said.

Mr Sharkey said the only way the family were going to get the full truth was through an independent inquiry.

“A report like this does not have the same clout an independent inquiryinto this would have,” he told RTE Radio.

Mr Sharkey said the decision by garda headquarters not to pursue the information on the suspects given by the RUC raised serious questions for the family and strengthened the case for an independent inquiry.

The family said bringing the truth out into the open 30 years after the murder was still important as many of his siblings were still waiting for answers.

“I think we owe it to him, Seamus, that the truth come out about him, because this is a man who was totally innocent of anything. He was just picked up by this gang and killed.

“The family is asking for the authorities down here to come out after 30 years and tell us really what happened here. That is all we are asking for,” he said.