Beattie asks if Dublin keeps Kingsmills Massacre file secret due to 'links to Irish state security forces'
The UUP Justice Spokesman says he can see no reason the Irish Government refuses to publish a secret file on the Kingsmills Massacre "unless there are clear links to the Irish state security forces".
Doug Beattie MLA was speaking after attending a commemoration, on Monday, for the 10 Protestant workmen, 50 years after they were shot dead by IRA gunmen.
The massacre took place near Kingsmills in south Armagh on January 5 1976 as they travelled home from work. Alan Black survived being shot 18 times.
The PSNI's Historical Enquiries Team concluded the attack was planned from the south and the gunmen fled there afterwards.
In his final report, the coroner in the Kingsmills legacy inquest listed many southern aspects to the atrocity.
He noted that the Daily Telegraph in 1976 reported Irish minister for justice Patrick Cooney saying the problem “was essentially one for Northern Ireland”.
The getaway van was stolen and dumped in the south and a palm print lifted from it “originated from a known IRA terrorist located south of the border”, the coroner said.
He also found successive police assessments concluded that the suspects lived in the Republic of Ireland.
Four of the 10 weapons used were recovered in Co Louth.
Mr Cooney was also quoted in 1976 newspapers denying that the terrorists fled south, the coroner said.
Based on a 1976 Irish Independent report, the coroner said Mr Cooney had stated that “the RUC was satisfied that there was no involvement of terrorists from south of the border”.
However the coroner noted that this “is not in keeping with police papers available to the inquest”.
The RUC investigating officer told the inquest that intelligence on suspects received in 1976 “would have been of limited value as most were resident south of the border”.
The Kingsmills families spent eight years lobbying Dublin for answers. A secret High Court hearing to address 60 of their questions finally took place in Dublin in 2022.
However neither the families, their legal teams nor the media were allowed to attend.
Instead, an Irish High Court judge put their questions to a senior Garda officer, who read out answers.
The subsequent report remains secret.
Mr Beattie said that standing on the scene of the atrocity “brought home genuine feelings of sorrow”.
The terrorists “scrambled away” to the Irish Republic, from where they launched their attack, also dumping their getaway vehicle there, he said.
“That we have not seen anyone charged is inconceivable given that weapons were recovered as was the stolen getaway van used.
“The Irish government have shown that they are not interested in chasing the information to bring about the information the families deserve.
“To keep the [Irish High Court] report into the Kingsmills massacre secret is a denial of justice and I can see no reason why this is the case unless there are clear links to the Irish state security forces and the murder of these innocent men.
“If the Irish government wishes to deny this then all they need to do is release the report.”
The UK should be "vociferous" in pressing for its release – or take it to the European Court of Justice, he added.
The Irish Departments of Taoiseach, Justice and Foreign Affairs were invited to comment.
The Irish Department of Justice declined to respond to Mr Beattie but referred to a statement on Kingsmills it issued earlier in the week.
The Northern Ireland Office said the murders are being investigated by the ICRIR. As part of the Joint Framework agreed last year, the Irish Government has committed to “the fullest possible cooperation” with a reformed Legacy Commission, he added.