Seán Browne: Taoiseach offers support to family of murdered GAA official seeking public inquiry into his killing

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has given his support to the family of murdered GAA official Seán Brown and their campaign for a public inquiry into his killing.

Northern Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris is expected to decide this week whether a public inquiry will be held into the 61-year-old’s death.

Mr Brown was locking the gates at Bellaghy Wolfe Tone’s GAA club in Co Derry in May 1997 when he was abducted and murdered by loyalists. No one has been convicted for the murder.

An inquest into his killing began last year, but coroner Mr Justice McKinney last month said it could not continue as material was being withheld on national security grounds. He wrote to Mr Heaton-Harris requesting that a public inquiry be held.

Public-interest immunity (PII) hearings, which were held behind closed doors, had revealed that up to 25 people, some of whom were state agents, had been linked through intelligence to the murder of Mr Brown – the first time the family’s suspicions of collusion were officially confirmed.

In a letter responding to correspondence from Northern Ireland’s First Minister, Michelle O’Neill, which has been seen by The Irish Times, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he “noted the further disturbing information about the terrible circumstances of Sean’s death” that had come to light during the PII process.

“My thoughts are with the family at this difficult time,” he said.

Referring to the ongoing controversy over the UK government’s Legacy Act, which is being challenged by the Irish Government at the European Court of Human Rights, Mr Varadkar said the information revealed during Mr Brown’s inquest “underlines the ongoing value of, and need for, human rights compliant processes to address legacy cases in Northern Ireland”.

He said Tánaiste Micheál Martin had voiced his support for the family’s request for a public inquiry in the Dáil last month and he would therefore ask him to “follow up with you on this matter in due course”.

The Brown family said it “welcomed this positive and constructive intervention by the Taoiseach” in support of the coroner’s recommendation that a public inquiry be convened and appreciated his “recognition of the harm caused to us” by the PII process.

“We trust that this public endorsement by the two most senior positions in Irish Government, aligned with the views of the high court judge Mr Justice Kinney and the chief constable, who of course have read and considered the unredacted sensitive material, will empower Mr Heaton-Harris to do the right and proper thing and convene a public inquiry,” the family said.

“We hope and pray that he does not condemn us to a further protracted round of litigation, which is stressful to us as a family and further deepens our sense of injustice with regards to what happened to our father.”

[ Up to 25 people linked to murder of Derry GAA official Seán Brown, inquest told ]

A spokesperson for KRW Law, which represents the Brown family, said it was “clear that the only lawful decision which can be made by the secretary of state is to convene a public inquiry”. The firm said that if he failed to do so, “we are in receipt of instructions from Mrs Brown to immediately seek recourse by judicial review to challenge what we would consider to be an irrational and unlawful decision”.

The Pat Finucane Centre, which represents the Brown family, said “anything that further delays justice … will cause enormous harm to the family and unprecedented anger in the community” and would “further damage PSNI relations with the wider nationalist community”.