Skip to main content

Adams responds to Statement by Stack Family

Image
By

Brian Stack was the chief officer in Portlaoise prison in March 1983 when he was shot and grievously wounded. The IRA said it was not involved. A year and a half later Brian Stack died as a result of his injuries.

Mr. Stack was a married man with three young sons. Since then the family have sought answers to questions about who shot their father and why.

At the beginning of May I met Austin and Oliver Stack in Leinster House. They asked for my assistance in seeking answers and closure to questions they had surrounding the killing of their father. I told them I would try to help.

From that time I worked with Austin and Oliver to establish whether the IRA was involved in their father’s death.
Recently I accompanied Austin and Oliver to a meeting with a former IRA leader who had enquired into the events of March 1983.

The substance of his conclusions are contained in the family statement which states that the former IRA leader: “Acknowledged that the IRA was responsible for the death of Chief Officer Brian Stack and that IRA members acting under orders carried out this attack.  We were further informed that the IRA leadership had not sanctioned the attack and upon becoming aware that its members, acting under orders, carried out the attack, the IRA disciplined the member responsible for issuing the instruction. 

The statement also expressed regret that it had taken so long to clarify this matter and acknowledged that the attack should not have taken place.  An expression of sorrow for the pain and hurt suffered by our family was also included.”

Also in their statement the family said: “This process has brought an element of closure to our family …”

I want to pay tribute to the Stack family – to Sheila Stack and her sons, Austin, Kieran and Oliver.
On behalf of Sinn Féin I extend my regret at the killing of Brian.

I hope that these recent developments will help them achieve the closure they have sought for 30 years.
Addressing complex and painful legacy issues is an enormous challenge.

Dealing with the human consequences of conflict in terms acceptable to victims and their families is very difficult, especially in the absence of a process which provides for the voluntary participation of witnesses.
Nonetheless it is a challenge which republicans will not shy away from.

This generation of republican activists who lived through and survived the war have a duty and a responsibility to do our best to help victims and families.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

There can be no preconditions

By
Blog January 21st 10 Apparently the DUP were sitting up at Stormont Castle on Thursday waiting for the Shinners to come and talk to them. Strange. This Blog had told Peter Robinson late the evening before that that phase of our discussions was over. I told him there would be a Sinn Féin national officer board meeting on Thursday and a report from Martin McGuinness on the negotiations would be discussed. The failure of the DUP thus far to come up to the plate during the current round of negotiations shouldn’t come as any great surprise. The DUP are looking over their shoulder at Jim Allister and then there are the ‘secret’ talks between the UUs and the DUP and talk of electoral pacts. That’s their own business and nothing to get too excited about. Except to note they told us they couldn’t do any business on the Sabbath – the very day they were busy on unionist unity business. But lest we forget the DUP was born out of the anti civil rights politics of the late 60s and the firebrand unio...
57 comments
Read more

Remembering Bobby Sands.

By
In 1973 just before midnight on Christmas Eve, I was caught along with three other comrades attempting to escape from Long Kesh. We were among a large group of men and women interned without charge or trial. My first bout of internment was on the Maidstone Prison Ship in 1972. Internees-the British later called us detainees as part of their fiction that internment was ended – were held in Armagh Women’s Gaol, Belfast Prison, Magilligan, and Long Kesh. In July 1974 I was caught again in another escape bid. Steve McQueen I was not. The following March 1975 I was taken out to court where I was convicted on the first escape attempt and received an 18 month sentence. A month later I was convicted of the second escape attempt and got another three years. Then as the rest of the internees were being released a small group of us nearly got-aways were moved out of the internee end of Long Kesh to the top end of the camp where the sentenced POWs were held. We were incarcerated in Cage...
Post a Comment
Read more

Best International Documentary | Defend the GPO and Save Moore St. | A Week in the Life and Death of GAZA

By
  Best International Documentary I spent the weekend in Galway and Mayo. The weather was amazing. The countryside with its miles of stone walls separating plots of land and the lush colours of green and rocky inclines was a joy to travel through. I was in Galway on Saturday to attend the Galway Film Festival/Fleadh where Trisha Ziff’s film – A Ballymurphy Man - was receiving its world premiere. The cinema in the old Town Hall where the Festival is centred was packed to capacity for the screening. The audience was hugely attentive and very welcoming when Trisha and I went on the stage at the end of the screening to talk about the making of the documentary. The next day I was in Mayo when Trisha text me to say that ‘A Ballymurphy Man’ had taken the Festival award for Best International Documentary. So well done Trisha and her team who worked hard over five years, with very limited funding to produce this film. In Mayo I met Martin Neary, who has bequeathed his 40-acre homeste...
Post a Comment
Read more