Family of prison officer killed by IRA receives state apology

The family of a senior Irish prison officer murdered by the IRA has received a state apology on Wednesday for failings in investigations into his killing.

Brian Stack, a father of three, was crossing a street in Dublin, after leaving a boxing match in 1983, when he was shot in the back of the neck.

Stack, who was the chief prison officer at the high-security Portlaoise Prison, was left paralysed and died 18 months later, aged 49.

There were three separate garda (Irish police) investigations into Stack's death, but no-one was brought to justice for his killing.

The Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Micheál Martin offered an apology on behalf of the state during a sitting of the Dáil (Irish parliament).

Stack's wife Sheila and her sons Austin, Kieran and Oliver were in the chamber for the apology.

Martin said the Provisional IRA is "still in the possession of all the facts" on this case.

The Stack brothers left the Dáil (lower house of Irish parliament) chamber when Sinn Féin TDs spoke during the State apology.

Speaking outside Leinster House after the State apology, Austin Stack called on Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald to "address our concerns" around their father's murder.

"The IRA were responsible for the murder my father. The leader of the opposition has consistently said that the IRA campaign was justified," he said.

"The leader of the opposition did not dignify and respect my family by coming into the chamber today and because of that, we took the action that we did, in withdrawing from the chamber when Sinn Féin representatives were speaking."

Sinn Féin did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his remarks.

Speaking to reporters in Belfast, where she is being interviewed by the Police Service of Northern Ireland in relation to protests at Garvaghy Road , McDonald welcomed the State apology.

"I can only imagine the trauma that they have been through for a long time," she said.