Northern Ireland Troubles: Kingsmills Massacre families press Independent Commission for Reconciliation & Information (ICRIR) to name deceased IRA terrorists in case
Relatives of those slain in the Kingsmills Massacre are asking the Independent Commission for Reconciliation & Information to name deceased terrorists who were prime suspects in the atrocity.
Using a cover name, IRA gunmen stopped a minibus of textile workers as they travelled home from work near Kingsmills in south Armagh in 1976.
The attack came during tit-for-tat sectarian murders, but the Historical Enquiries Team and legacy inquest both found it was a purely sectarian attack that had been planned months in advance.
Ulster Human Rights Watch (UHRW), which is supporting some of the families said, it is "real progress and a significant advance for relatives" that ICRIR has agreed to take on the case.
UHRW says two families have asked ICRIR to investigate.
They are pressing the ICRIR to name the deceased suspected terrorists involved in the attack – something the Kingsmill legacy inquest coroner refused to do.
They have submitted 57, including one about why so many Public Interest Immunity Certificates were used in the inquest.
Also of major concern to the families are the actions of the Gardaí.
During the legacy inquest families submitted 77 questions to the Gardai about the attack. Finally after nine years of pressure the Gardai responded to the questions - but in a closed court hearing in Dublin which the families were not allowed to attend. Irish authorities have refused to publish the answers.
Kenneth Worton said: “We have an opportunity here to get answers to events that surrounded the massacre. Forty-nine years on from these brutal slayings, we have been given some hope by this decision by the ICRIR to launch an investigation.
“Families can only expect limited closure but naming those who gunned down our relatives would be a positive step.”
UHRW Advocacy Worker, Jonathan Larner, said: “The Irish Government has been dragging its heels on Kingsmill as with all cross-border cases. Families want to see Dublin become fully engaged with the ICRIR and agree to open their files. The role of the Gardaí deserves close scrutiny if we are to get to the truth and if suspicions of collusion are to be addressed.”
“This decision by the ICRIR is real progress and a significant advance for relatives.
“Kingsmill families have waited long enough for answers which merely served to retraumatise them and cause pain and anguish. They hope to learn why, for example, Public Interest Immunity Certificates were issued and what they were attempting to conceal.
“Also concerning are the reasons for the Irish ‘closed court’. Why and what purpose did that serve? We’re trying to shine a light into a dark corner and the hope has to be that the ICRIR unearths information that gives the families some closure and peace.”
“UHRW calls on the Republic of Ireland Government to effectively commit itself to cooperating fully and unreservedly with the ICRIR providing unfettered access to the information it holds in relation to this barbaric atrocity”.
The 10 men who were murdered were Robert Chambers, 18, John Bryans, 46, Reginald Chapman, 29, Walter Chapman, 35, Robert Freeburn, 50, Joseph Lemmon, 46, John McConville, 20, James McWhirter, 58, Robert Walker, 46, and Kenneth Worton, 24.
An ICRIR spokesperson said: “The ICRIR can confirm that requests have been received in relation to this case. Our case support and information recovery processes are now live, and we will not be making further comment at this stage.”
The Irish Department of Justice was invited to comment.