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Taoiseach Micheál Martin will address the Irish parliament on Wednesday to deliver an unreserved state apology to the family of Brian Stack for shortcomings in the probes into his 1983 murder by the IRA, according to an announcement from the Department of the Taoiseach. The Stack family will first hold a private meeting at Government Buildings with Martin and Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan before proceeding to the Dáil chamber for the proceedings. Austin Stack, one of the victim’s three sons, told RTE that the development represents the state stepping up to recognise its duty of care toward his father, who was carrying out a difficult role during a turbulent period.
Brian Stack, then aged 48 and serving as chief prison officer at the high-security Portlaoise facility, was shot in the neck from behind on March 25 1983 while returning to his car after attending a boxing match at Dublin’s National Stadium, multiple reports including those from the Irish Times and RTE confirm. A gunman escaped on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice, leaving Stack paralysed. He died 18 months later in September 1984 at the age of 49, becoming the only Irish prison officer killed in connection with the Troubles, as historical records compiled by various news outlets have established.
Three separate Garda investigations failed to bring anyone to justice for the killing, with the first probe alone found to contain 194 errors and omissions by the Serious Crime Review Team, Austin Stack told BBC News and other media outlets in recent days. The family has long argued that opportunities were missed and that informants may have been protected during the original inquiry, which appeared to have been effectively shelved within weeks. A letter from Martin to the family in September 2026, referenced across reports from the Irish Examiner and Leinster Express, confirmed the government’s approval for the apology after sustained campaigning.
The Provisional IRA initially denied involvement in the attack but issued a statement in 2013 admitting that some of its members carried it out without leadership sanction, following a meeting arranged with Gerry Adams and a former IRA commander that the Stack brothers attended, according to accounts provided to the BBC and Wikipedia summaries drawn from contemporary reporting. The IRA statement cited the prison regime at Portlaoise as context for the shooting, claiming it caused suffering to inmates and their families. No convictions have ever resulted despite the admission, leaving the case as one of the unresolved killings from that era.
Austin Stack, a former prison officer himself who authored the book Justice for My Father detailing the family’s efforts, has described how the 2019 apology from then Garda Commissioner Drew Harris for investigative failings prompted further pushes for formal state recognition, as covered by the Irish Times and The Sun. The family met with Minister O’Callaghan after the current government took office, leading to last month’s approval and the scheduled Dáil statement. Stack emphasised in interviews with RTE and Laois Live that the process has involved significant personal toll but that official acknowledgement provides validation after decades of persistence.
The apology arrives more than 43 years after the shooting and builds on the Garda admission while focusing on systemic lapses across the inquiries, according to a statement issued by the Stack family and reported by the Laois Nationalist. Austin Stack told multiple outlets that the recognition brings particular comfort to his mother Sheila and brothers Kieran and Oliver, noting the state is now owning the errors that occurred. He added that his father had received the Irish Prison Service’s highest posthumous bravery award for his work, underscoring the contrast with the handling of the murder case.
