GARDAI ARE FOLLOWING up on “significant new lines of inquiry” in the murder investigation of Brian Stack, a prison officer who was killed by the IRA 40 years ago.

At a meeting with gardaí today, members of the Stack family were told that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has sent the case file back to An Garda Síochána for further investigation.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Austin Stack, Brian’s son, said the developments have brought “some hope” to the family.

“I’m a lot happier [now] than before I went into the meeting,” he said.

The family have been given a timeline for the new inquiries and will meet with gardaí again in August.

Austin Stack appealed for anyone with information on his father’s killing which may assist gardaí to come forward: “Any little piece of information can add into something that they already have.”

Brian Stack, who was the chief officer at Portlaoise prison, was shot in the neck as he left a boxing match in March 1983. He was paralysed and suffered brain damage, and remained in hospital until he died 18 months later, aged 48.

The Provisional IRA later claimed responsibility for shooting, but no one has ever been brought to justice.

Former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams facilitated a 2013 meeting between Austin and Oliver Stack and a former IRA leader who gave the brothers information about the 1983 murder of their father.

The brothers were taken to the meeting in a blacked-out van and Adams has said that the meeting was arranged on the basis of confidentiality.

In 2018, the Stack family accused the gardaí of not acting on information they received in relation to the killing.

The Garda Press Office said the force does not comment on private meetings with third parties.