Loughinisland is a small, inconspicuous parish near Ballynahinch, Co. Down.
However, like many places, its name has become synonymous with the Troubles and is linked in our minds to the infamous Loughinisland Massacre.
On 18 June 1994, UVF members burst into a local pub and fired on the customers, killing six and wounding five others.
The pub, which was mainly frequented by Catholics, was crowded with people watching Ireland defeat Italy in the 1994 World Cup.
The investigation failed to catch the killers.
Interior of O’Toole’s bar in Loughinisland the morning after the UVF shot dead six people. Image: Pacemaker
Journalist Trevor Birney helped make the documentary ‘No Stone Unturned’ about the murders.
However, in August 2018, Birney and his colleague Barry Mccaffrey were arrested over the film’s content, having been accused of breaching the Official Secrets Act, theft of material relating to the Ombudsman’s investigation, handling stolen goods, and violating data protection laws.
Six years on, they’re at the centre of a major tribunal against the authorities in a case that Amnesty International says is crucial to the future of journalism and reporting.
Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Birney, author of a new book ‘Shooting Crows: Mass Murder, State Collusion and Press Freedom’, to talk about the story of the Loughinisland Massacre, his arrest following the release of ‘No Stone Unturned’, and how he discovered that the PSNI were keeping local journalists under surveillance.
Trevor Birney on the Loughinisland Massacre, the PSNI’s ‘Stasi’ tactics and his arrest
