Gardai failed to act after being informed four members of the Ulster Defence Association were suspected of murdering North Louth man Seamus Ludlow in 1976, a fresh inquest heard today.
Retired Garda John Courtney said officers from the Royal Ulster Constabulary gave him the four names and addresses of the suspects in February of 1979 during a trip to Northern Ireland.
No-one has ever been charged with the murder of Mr Ludlow, who was shot dead after he left a public house in Dundalk to walk the four miles to his home.
After passing information on the murder suspects to his superintendent to be forwarded to Garda headquarters, Mr Courtney said no further investigation of the men was taken.
Mr Courtney, who was a detective inspector at the time of Mr Ludlow's death in May 1976, said he was given the information about the shooting in Dundalk, Co Louth, on a trip to Northern Ireland.
"The detective sergeant and detective constable said they might be able to help me with the murder. They gave me details on how it happened and the names of the persons involved," he said.
Mr Courtney said the names of the suspects were matching up with information being gathered in Dundalk.
Mr Ludlow was last spotted alive by a jockey Cecil Mahon, walking over the Newry Road bridge on the outskirts of Dundalk town as he made his way home from a pub around midnight on May 1st, 1976.
At 3pm the following day his fully-clothed body was discovered dumped over a ditch down a lane at Culfore, Mountpleasant - not far from his home at Thistlecross.