Letter: Irish government needs to apologise to victims in Northern Ireland and Britain

The minibus was halted by men dressed in paramilitary clothing, the workmen told to line up, whilst the gunman called for the Catholic to step forward - his work colleagues shielded him, thinking he was going to be harmed.

The gunman stepped forward, removing the Catholic and ordering him to get up the road. Soon, the workmen would realise that they were in danger when several gunmen opened fire, hitting them below the waist so they could not run away.

Whilst the injured were lying on the ground, a gunman gave the order to “finish them off” and the cowardly gunmen proceeded to walk around, shooting them in the head.

Unknown to the cowards, there was one survivor lying underneath the others which had helped save his life. He lived to tell the tale of what exactly did happen.

The IRA had a very carefully planned mission, not something set up overnight or even weeks, but an evil attack to ethnic cleanse Protestants from the community.

The same active service units which had been murdering off-duty UDR soldiers and RUC officers in the area of South Armagh (in fact, one ex- UDR soldier, Clifford Lundy, was shot a 10-minute walk from the Kingsmill site on January 2, 1980).

They tried to claim the minibus attack as retaliation for the murder of some Catholics in the area, but that was propaganda to justify their actions and convince people that it was something they had to do.

They did it because of their hatred and bigotry towards Protestants and our security forces.

There can be no justification for the murders of these innocent men who had just returned after their Christmas break without knowing that was the very last Christmas they would ever enjoy with their loved ones.

Let’s remember the 10 workmen who lost their lives on that fatal night, who were callously and cowardly murdered by IRA terrorists. Let’s remember their families and all the many victims’ families at this sad time.

The Irish government has not lifted a finger to help with any form of bringing the perpetrators to justice, who callously murdered these innocent men but feel they have rights to dictate in the running of Northern Ireland. They saw fit to reject requests to have anyone living in their jurisdiction who had committed murderous crimes in the north, returned to the north for trial.

They were well aware of the safe houses provided for such within their jurisdiction in the south of Ireland. They also were well aware of the training camps provided for IRA and their recruits all maintained within the south of Ireland.

This government should have no rights to state that the people of the north would be well looked after in a united Ireland. They need to justify their wrongdoings and apologise to the people of Northern Ireland and Britain for the activities carried out by those they saw fit to protect.

Those who stood on the side of law and order will never accept their sweet talking.

Molly Carson, MBE, Project manager, FAIR