‘Sallins Inquiry Now’ Benefit Concert

“Open Those Gates – 50 Years On: A Night of Truth, Justice and Solidarity”

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Half a century after one of Ireland’s darkest miscarriages of justice, artists, journalists, lawyers, and human rights defenders will come together for a night of remembrance, resistance, and renewal. “Open Those Gates - 50 Years On” marks fifty years since the Sallins Mail-Train Frame-Up Case, a moment that exposed the fault lines in Ireland’s justice system - and the long shadow of silence that followed.

In 1976, over 40 people were arrested in connection with the so-called Sallins Mail Train Robbery. Several were beaten, tortured, and forced to sign false confessions. Three innocent men - Osgur Breatnach, Brian McNally, and Nicky Kelly - were convicted by the non-jury Special Criminal Court and sentenced to years of hard labour. 

Despite overwhelming evidence of brutality and injustice, the State has never issued an apology, never held an inquiry, and never explained how three men were imprisoned on coerced statements alone.

In his role as a researcher of human rights issues, human rights lawyer Alastair Logan, who acted in the cases of the ‘Guildford Four’ and ‘Maguire Seven’ became aware of the Sallins Mail-Train frame-up case, which he regarded of equal magnitude and importance. 

Speaking on the case he said: “I was struck by similarities between how my clients in the ‘Guildford Four’ and ‘Maguire Seven’ Cases - and of course ‘Birmingham Six’ - were stitched-up just like in the Sallins Case. All were arrested in the mid-1970s, all were assaulted in police custody, some were forced to incriminate themselves for crimes they did not commit and all received lengthy prison sentences.”

On March 29, 2026, the iconic Vicar Street will transform into a space of reflection and resistance. Curated by musician Cormac Breatnach, brother of Osgur, Open Those Gates will blend live performances, archival footage, film, poetry, and testimony - honouring those who fought for truth and those still demanding it.

The event will bring together leading voices from Ireland’s cultural and political landscape, standing shoulder-to-shoulder in solidarity with whistleblowers, truth-tellers, and survivors of institutional abuse and State silence.  

Performers and contributors include some of Ireland’s foremost singers, musicians, poets and writers including: Damien Dempsey, Kíla, John Spillane and Pauline Scanlon, Theo Dorgan, Paula Meehan, Colm Mac Con Iomaire, Gene Kerrigan, Peter Murtagh, Justine McCarthy, Patsy McGarry, Osgur Breathnach and Nicky Kelly. 

This is not just a concert. It’s a rallying cry - to artists, activists, journalists, and citizens who refuse to let history be buried.

Fifty years on, the Sallins case still stands as a mirror to Ireland’s uneasy relationship with truth and accountability. The event is part of the campaign for a public inquiry and a declaration that there was a miscarriage of justice - justice delayed is justice denied.

Join the Movement. Be Part of the Story. Get your tickets now. All profits after event expenses will go to the ongoing campaign for truth and justice.