Brian Stack: Family of prison officer killed by IRA receives state apology
Speaking in the Commons during Northern Ireland questions on Wednesday, Secretary of State Sir Chris Bryant said he “warmly welcomed” the taoiseach making the apology.
Asked about the matter by Democratic Unionist Party leader Gavin Robinson, Sir Chris said Dublin doing so was “entirely right and proper” and went to the heart of discussions MPs had been having this week as they debated the government’s Troubles legacy bill.
He added that it was “incumbent on all of us to make fulsome and not mealy-mouthed apologies”.
The IRA admitted killing Stack in 2013 after his family mounted a long campaign to secure the admission, and met Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams and a former IRA commander.
Adams, at that time, expressed his “regret” to the Stack family over the killing.
A Sinn Féin spokesperson said that “in a 2013 statement, a former IRA leader acknowledged that IRA volunteers were responsible for Brian Stack’s killing”.
“The statement said the shooting had not been authorised by the IRA leadership, accepted IRA responsibility for his death, said it should not have happened and expressed sorrow for the pain and hurt suffered by the family.”
The spokesperson added: “As republicans, we acknowledge the hurt caused by republican actions. That suffering cannot be disowned. We are sorry for all the lives lost during the period of conflict on this island, without exception.”
In 2019, the family received an apology from then garda commissioner Drew Harris in relation to the handling of the investigation into the murder.
In 2023, gardaí told the family that the file on the case – which was with the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) – was being sent back to police for further investigation.
Stack was the only prisoner officer in the state killed by violence related to the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
