Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
TROUBLES VICTIM SEEKS JUSTICE 30 years or 30 days.. It makes no difference. We miss and grieve for Ian
John demands answers over Garda ‘collusion’
Ian was happy-go-lucky, loved by all who knew him. He lived life to the full JOHN SPROULE YESTERDAY
such good craic. He was happy-golucky, loved by all who knew him.
“He lived life to the full, loved music and concerts, played the flute in Castlederg Young Loyalists and was learning to play the guitar.
“More than 1,000 people attended his funeral, people of different faiths and none. He was the ninth member of our church, Maghenageeragh Presbyterian, to be murdered.
“We often thought, ‘Who will be next?’ I never dreamed it’d be Ian.”
Kenny Donaldson, South East Fermanagh Foundation’s Director of Services said: “Twenty nine people were murdered in Castlederg by Provisional IRA during the Troubles, and only two murder convictions handed down, so 93% of the cases remain unsolved including Ian Sproule’s.
“The campaign carried out by the provisional IRA was motivated by sectarian and ethnic influences and hatred. Today there’s a legacy of injustice and a palpable anger and frustration at the lack of concern given to the plight of this border community by both the UK and Republic of Ireland. Many people feel abandoned.”
Following the Smithwick Tribunal, Ian’s family and supporters concluded his murder was a planned and deadly result of collusion between the killers and an unnamed gardai source.
Shortly after the killing, the IRA painted him as a loyalist paramilitary.
The police, the UVF and other community leaders at the time all refuted the allegations as a clumsy bid to distract attention from a senseless sectarian murder.
The Garda Commissioner at the time ordered an investigation into how police files were purported to have been passed in an act of alleged collusion between members of the Garda in Co Donegal and the IRA.
John said: “After all these years we’ve still never been told the outcome of that investigation, although it was referred to in the Smithwick tribunal in 2012 when an RUC witness ‘Witness 68’ testified ‘beyond doubt that there was a leak from the gardai to the IRA’ in relation to the Garda security document containing Ian’s details.
“In December 2019 we met Tanaiste Simon Coveney with
Diane Dodds of the DUP, to discuss the collusion claim.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said Mr Coveney had reaffirmed the Irish Government’s condemnation of the murder. The spokesperson added: “The Tanaiste confirmed that the relevant Departments would remain in contact with the Sproule family, as they continue to seek the justice and truth which they are entitled to.” Mr Donaldson said:
“Many months on from that meeting we’ve no explanation as to how a Garda intelligence file claiming Ian Sproule to be a suspected member of the UVF ended up in the hands of the Provisional IRA, or indeed why Ian’s name was included in a document when the police, his family, the UVF themselves and community leaders of the time each refuted the allegations he had any connection.”
John added: “As we face the 30th anniversary of Ian’s murder we once again call on the Irish government to take action, show us the honour and respect promised us and get us answers to our questions.”