The brother of murdered Co Louth man Séamus Ludlow has demanded an apology from the Garda over its investigation into the 1976 murder.
A report by Mr Justice Henry Barron released last night sharply criticised the Garda investigation into Mr Ludlow's death.
Mr Ludlow's brother, Kevin Ludlow, today called for a fully independent public inquiry into the murder and said the family would be seeking an apology from the gardaí, who falsely gave them the impression their brother had been killed by the IRA.
"We were treated as dirt by the guards. I know that the ordinary guards on the street had to take orders from higher up and only did what they were told, but the first inquest was a shambles anyway.
"There's still a lot of questions to be answered. The big question is why was so much covered up? Why were we told lies for 30 years?"
Séamus Ludlow was abducted in Dundalk in May 1976 while returning home from a pub and was found later dumped in a ditch near his home with three gunshot wounds to the chest.
Kevin Ludlow
The Barron report asked why details of four suspects, provided by the RUC in 1979, were never pursued.
At a second inquest earlier this year into Mr Ludlow 's murder, senior gardaí gave evidence that they knew who the killers were but were stopped by Garda Headquarters from pursuing them.
Mr Ludlow told RTÉ radio that he believed the family would never get justice.
"They [the men responsible] could have been brought to justice 18 months after the murder and they'd have done their time and it'd be all over."
He said the Garda investigation had caused division in his family. "The gardaí did try to split up the family, and in a certain extent, they did do that. Thank God, everything is all right now; there's no split in the family and we're all coming together."
The Barron report states the RUC believed Mr Ludlow was picked up in a car in May 1976 by four men: James Fitzsimmons, Richard Long, Samuel Carroll and Paul Hosking. It said: "Information obtained by the RUC from Hosking suggested that it was Carroll who shot Seamus Ludlow .
"The inquiry has not been in a position to test the veracity of this allegation."
Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy is examining the Barron report. In a statement, he said the gardaí acknowledged that there were issues in the original investigation carried out some 30 years ago.