The Irish government will issue a formal state apology to the family of Brian Stack, a senior Irish prison officer murdered by the IRA in 1983. Taoiseach Micheál Martin will deliver the apology in the Dáil on Wednesday.

Stack, 49, was chief prison officer at Portlaoise Prison. He was shot in the back of the neck while crossing a street in Dublin after attending a boxing match. He was left paralysed and died 18 months later.

Three separate Garda investigations into the killing resulted in no prosecutions. The family has campaigned for decades for accountability. They met with several ministers for justice and sought access to a serious crime review team report, which they say identified 194 errors and omissions in the original investigation, but were refused access.

In 2013, the IRA admitted responsibility for the killing. Sinn Féin has reiterated that apology, stating the shooting was not authorised by IRA leadership and expressing sorrow for the pain caused to the family.

The family previously received an apology from then Garda Commissioner Drew Harris in 2019 over the investigation. In 2023, gardaí told the family that the case file was being sent back to police for further investigation.

Brian Stack was the only prison officer killed in violence related to the Troubles in Northern Ireland while serving in the Republic of Ireland.