SEFF calls on Irish Government for full transparency on Kingsmills Massacre ahead of 50th anniversary - report banned from publication
Victims are asking the Irish government to mark the 50th anniversary of the Kingsmills Massacre by full transparency – with the only report it ever compiled on the matter banned from publication.
The attack took place near Kingsmills in south Armagh on January 5, 1976 when the IRA gunned down 10 Protestant civilians as they travelled home from work. The atrocity came amidst a spate of sectarian tit-for-tat murders.
The PSNI's Historical Enquiries Team concluded the attack was planned from the south and the gunmen fled there afterwards. The getaway van was stolen and dumped in the south.
Four weapons were recovered there and the top three suspects served time there for terror offences.
A secret court hearing to address 60 questions from the families took place in Dublin 2022, however the subsequent report is forever classed as secret by authorities on both sides of the border. The NI legacy inquest took a full decade due to southern stonewalling, and concluded in 2024.
Kenny Donaldson, director of victims group SEFF, said the attack came in the midst of nine months of intense sectarian murders.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Kingsmills families of the 10 innocent Protestant men slaughtered as they mark yet another milestone anniversary" he said.
His thoughts are also with the Reavey and O'Dowd families whose loved ones were murdered by loyalists only days before, he added.
The Kingsmills murders, he said, were replicated right across the full length of the border in a bid to drive out Protestants.
“The Republic of Ireland state through its security and extradition failures was complicit in PIRA's campaign of ethnic genocide and still has not had the moral courage to acknowledge its role," he said.
Border victims now want to see "formal acknowledgement of their hurt".
He added: “The Irish state has failed the innocents of Kingsmills despite their repeated promises and commitments, the Coronial Inquest process was less than satisfactory for the families; full disclosure and transparency was far from visible."
He noted that a new legacy framework has been agreed by both states and a legacy bill has come from the UK side but "nothing concrete" has been done by Dublin.
"We have experienced little direct engagement with the Irish Department of Justice despite our best attempts across a range of cases down the years,” he added.
A spokeswoman for the Irish Department of Justice responded that minister Jim O’Callaghan’s thoughts are with the Kingsmills families ahead of the anniversary – but she did not acknowledge any concerns about Kingsmills transparency.
She said the Irish Programme for Government contains commitments to play a full part in legacy processes, building on 2019 Irish legislation which facilitated gardai giving evidence on Kingsmills (in the secret Dublin court hearing in 2022).
Minister O’Callaghan hopes to publish legislation to allow cooperation with the NI Legacy Commission under the new joint framework and establish the cross-border information-retrieval body in the south in spring 2026.
He will bring these before the Irish Parliament soon after the UK legislation is enacted, she added.
Mr Donaldson invited all sections of the community to a Kingsmills memorial service on Sunday in Bessbrook Town Hall at 3pm, and the service at the Kingsmills scene on Monday at 11am.